Ancient Outlook
by NaluKnight
Summary: War is bad enough, but it is even more so when uncharted. Connected to Natsu's deepest secret, it haunts his past as well as his ancestors' before him. Torn between love and violence, Natsu struggles to find resolution in a twisted world. Can he solve the hidden puzzles of Earthland, or will his life be shattered in the process, crushing his ancient outlook? ON HIATUS
1. 13 Years Prior

**Right, I always meant for their to be a prologue to this, I just never meant to wait this long to do it. This should answer some wayward questions. Also it should make more sense now with the latest manga chapters. WARNING- THIS HAS MAJOR SPOILERS IF YOU ARE NOT CAUGHT UP WITH MANGA!**

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13 Years Prior

Black skies, light zephyrs, humidity that would make an ox sweat; these were all signs of an impending storm, one that was most appropriate when taking into account the ambience of the land it would soon rage upon. This particular _land_ was more a city, it was a capital one to be exact. It's architecture ranged from thatched huts to concrete compounds, the eclectic use in material each representing a different fiscal background. The city itself was massive, with an equally massive structure erupting out of the ground at its epicenter.

The structure in question was a castle, and not just any castle, but one that radiated power like an active volcano with its many spires and ledges, one that left the rest of the city in a massive shadow at all times except for when the sun was merciful, and one, that harbored many a dangerous mind, who all were fixated upon one goal, one target, their neurons pulsing as one while they ran with the efficiency of an engine.

Maybe a few thousand feet or so away from the castle, a cloaked and hooded _man_ , presumably, was making his way carefully along the streets of the city, cautious of wandering eyes and suspicious minds. He drew stares for his attire, but he had anticipated the rain and preferred not to get wet when his destination was what it was. The city stretched out on from to him like one endless bazaar, as if each different section would offer him tales untold and adventure worth embarking upon.

Catching sight of the main street, the man hopped onto the sidewalk and continued his brisk pace, not too fast as to arouse suspicion, but not too slow as to miss his appointment. He passed newspaper stands among other things as he walked by stores and peoples, finding himself on a busier road, but the newspapers were what drew his attention. Pausing briefly to inspect the papers, he proceeded to pay the small fee that would allow him to take it along and started to read while strolling, his eyes flitting over the myriad headlines.

What most piqued his interest was a rather peculiar piece of text on the back page, seeming to have been purposefully put there out of necessity and a longing to stay aloof. Still, it was technically a headline, even though it had been relegated to the post-pages with the invariably usual junk that was found there. What raised the man's interest the most was not so much the headline as the body of the story.

The title was simple enough, "Clever Experiment is a Rousing Success", and had just the right amount of vagueness to steer away the eyes of the impetuous and the arrogant, seemingly too short to interest yet at the same time too tiring to read fully. The man was not fooled though, and these standout features did nothing to sway his gaze, in fact they drew his trained eyes in even more. Similar to its title, the article itself was rather ambiguous. It seemed to talk about particular advancements in the field of genetics.

It was not the area of the man's expertise; he had many, but this certainly was not one of them. As such, it was difficult for him to read between the lines, but he was able to figure out a couple of key points. One, was that fairly recently, someone had succeeded in procreating without the use of viviparous means; an astonishing feat in its own right, and two, the operation had been overseen by the emperor himself; it was very odd that such an important man would take the time out of his life for an experiment that at first had probably seemed fantastical. The finer details of just _how_ the experiment was able to succeed were passed over in the article, and, the man mused, even if they had been included, he would have likely not understood them. What was most striking about it was that usually any news involving the emperor was either broadcast widely over television or, at the very least, adorned the front page of the paper, never the back.

Caught up in his own rumination, the man did not notice the spear aimed at his head until he sensed it out of the corner of his eyes and had immediately moved backwards in one, swift motion. He turned to glare at the perpetrator, only to have that anger directed to realization as it dawned on him that he was standing in front of the gates to the castle; he was technically no longer in the city of Vistarion, even though it surrounded the castle. It was raining now.

He thrust his gaze from the gates back to the guard, who was adorned with the crest of the empire and had a machine gun strapped to his back. The man could not make out the guard's face under his helmet as he said with a still suspicious voice, "State your business stranger, you will find that we do not appreciate arbitrary persons loitering upon our doorstep."

The man smirked before removing his hood, "Gladly I will, but you will find that my face is enough to extradite any suspicion you might have soldier."

The guard's dubious countenance was transformed by surprise, "Oh, sir Hallow, I did not know it was you. Please forgive me for my rude behavior, but the emperor has called for heightened security as of now."

The man, known now as sir Hallow, had pleasant surprise written on his face, "Heightened security?" he repeated questioningly, "Pray tell, whatever for?"

The guard gulped a little before leaning in closer to his ear and muttering softly, "The rumor is, that something or _someone_ has been extricated from the castle, seemingly recent too; I've never seen the sire in such distress."

Sir Hallow was shocked at this, nobody in their right mind would attempt to commit a crime right under his majesty's nose; it was basically a suicide attempt. But now, if what this guard had told him was true, then someone had attempted exactly _that_ , and they had done so with success as well, something that should have been impossible. He realized that instead of standing outside and wondering about a paradox, he might as well continue on to his audience, "Hmm, right, well anyway soldier, I have a meeting with his majesty, one that is of the utmost importance, so I really will have to excuse myself now."

The soldier looked a little taken aback, but complied with his superior's orders, "Oh, of course sir. Musn't keep his majesty waiting now should we?"

"No, we should not." and with that, he shouldered past the slightly confused guard and eased open that gate, making it creak after years of use as he did. He entered the courtyard, beautiful in its own right with its lush gardens and magnificent fountains, and he headed for a location straight in front of him, the steps that led to the throne room that was located at the front of the castle. His feet lightly tapped on each step as he quickly bounded up the stairs, careful to not be too loud; serenity was much appreciated by his majesty.

Of course, when he stepped inside the throne room, it was impossible to stop the echoes that resounded from his steps as tried to walk in without making a sound; it was futile. When he was able to fully inspect the throne room, he noticed that there was another who was already there, someone who was not the emperor. They seemed to be conversing in low tones. The man decided to linger behind a pillar for now, intent on catching some snippets of conversation, "Brandish, I wish for you to assemble the twelve, I have urgent matters I must discuss with them."

"That may prove a bit hard your majesty, as the twelve take a bit of time before yielding to anything."

"Well, tell them it is of utmost importance and should not be taken lightly. I do not summon them frequently after all."

"I shall, and I should also warn you that Marin stands a mere 40 feet away, behind that pillar over there." Brandish said, pointing in said direction with her hand.

Marin, also known as a certain sir Hallow, cursed to himself inwardly; this did not look good. He strode forward, hands raised apprehensively, as if to mask his attempt at secrecy by abandoning it openly, "Lord Spriggan, I meant no disrespect, it is just that I saw that you had a prior engagement with Brandish here, and I simply wished to not disturb you."

The man known as Spriggan smiled gently, masking his entire ambience with that boyish smile, "It's alright Brandish," he added as the woman had made to move toward Marin, "I _did_ call Marin here after all." he paused for a moment, looking down from the throne as he pondered on something until looking back at Marin, "What have you got for me?"

Marin smiled lightly with relief as he knew he was in no immediate danger, or so he thought, "Well your majesty, it is as you predicted. The prize you say ravenously covet, Lumen Histoire, _is_ in fact located in Ishgar, Fiore to be exact, our spies in Magnolia were able to tell this much. You were also right when you guessed that Layla Heartfilia is the key to unlocking its power, whatever it may be."

Spriggan chuckled at this information, so he had been right all along, "Thank you Marin, I believe you deserve a reward for your troubles."

The said man leaned forward expectantly, a little bit of greed in his eyes; he was too preoccupied with the promise of a prize to notice the emperor's slight jerk towards Brandish.

This proved his downfall, as he lay dead a moment later, causing the emperor to sigh a bit, "Whew, he was loyal, but this sort of information can only be allowed to taint so many minds; I cannot have it enter so many that its potency is utterly lost."

"Your majesty, why can we not just storm the country and take your prize, surely we can do it?" Brandish asked incredulously.

"We do not have the necessary power as of now, we are still in need of more." Spriggan said gravely before adopting a cheerier tone, "However, there is a fix for that as our enemies are bound to be moving along now, same as us. I trust the infiltration spies have been recruited?"

"Yes, three boys, all 4 years old to be exact. The plan is to train them until they are around twelve years of age, at which time their memories will be wiped and they will be released upon our target area, that of Layla Heartfilia. We plan to encode a genomic sequence into their DNA during training, which will allow us to reset their lost memories. This will then let us to order them once they have been properly assimilated in Fiore." she finished as she smiled lightly; it really was a clever plan.

"Hmmm, that is all well, but what of the theft of my greatest creation, do you have any updates on that front?" Spriggan asked, making it painstakingly aware that this issues caused him much pain."

"I'm sorry sir, but... there is no news as of now." Brandish said, clearly afraid of his reaction. Surprisingly, the emperor remained calm, not succumbing to his very _special_ condition this time around.

"Very well then," he said heavily, "I will have to deem that a lost cause for now, what with everything else that is going on."

"I'm sure something will turn up." the woman said carefully, as if she was unsure of herself. Trying to tip the conversation elsewhere she quickly continued, "Sir, what other enemies were you speaking of before?"

The man stopped his musings as sat up straighter, as if he remembered something pleasant; he laughed, "Why, Ishgar for one of course, but you probably already knew that." here he paused as a tingling aura began to develop around him; it was one of unconfined malice and excitement, even Brandish was chilled, though she didn't let it show, "The second of course... is one Acnologia."

Brandish gasped as though ice water had been dropped on her head, "Surely... you do not mean _him_ of all people."

"I do, I built Arbaless because of him after all" Spriggan said as he nodded his head gravely. A lengthy silence approached the two, Spriggan was introspective and Brandish rather calm, if only because she did not let her anticipation show. The silence was broken by Spriggan himself as he looked up again, "I have decided that I will be traveling to Ishgar... I need to gather more information about Ragnorak. Of course, I will be coming back here to Vistarion sparingly to check up on things, but, it will be _your_ job to impart this information to the rest of the twelve."

Brandish merely nodded, still in a daze at the turn of events, but then she remembered something, "Sire, where will you head first to begin your journey?"

At this, Spriggan truly smiled for the first time that day, and, as he stepped down from his throne, he gave her his answer, "Why, Magnolia of course."

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 **Well, this is the** **prologue, as always leave reviews! Oh, I also wrote some other stories, if anyone cares to check them out. I'm sorry about the delay in the chapter, I was working on the other stories.**


	2. Inception

**This is a nalu story, incorporating an OC from the story Adherence by toxineena, which was sadly not finished. I especially hate this OC. UPDATE- Prologue in working phase.**

 **I own nothing.**

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Inception

The city go Magnolia gently rested upon the geography of Fiore; it was near the ocean which caused it to always have salt in the air, a mild breeze seemingly eternal and intrinsic to the city. It was August, and that meant that the joy of summer was nearly over, the lethargic minds of the city's children would have to be rebooted and reenergized, for school was upon them once more.

The Friday of the first week of school at Magnolia High passed rather unceremoniously, the teachers got ready for hell, the freshmen were welcomed to hell, and the upperclassmen reentered it. The castle of a school towered over the rest of the city of Magnolia like a citadel, as if the entire power of the town rested there. It did _not_ of course, but some like to think otherwise. Many in the regional council were skeptical and dubious about the mere existence of the school; it's powerful alumni and school board often bullied the _town_ into allotting the majority of the government funds into the hands of the the high school. There was much corruption within the school, but it was masked by its congenial atmosphere and it's amenable staff. The real perversion happened behind the scenes; even the principal was not privy to it. However, for all the adulteration that occurred at the school, it most certainly had its strong points.

This particular school differed from normal schools, in that every year, all students were assigned a desultory, academic partner for the whole year, one who happened to be in the same grade as them. The said partners were inseparable in a school sense, allocated by the school to have every project and piece of homework done together. The purpose of this seemingly anomalous system was that the administration believed that it promoted unity between students as well as helped them with their social skills later in life, such as in the institution of marriage.

In addition to its academic ingenuity, Magnolia High School also excelled in a wide range of sports, even fishing. The school had a long and celebrated history, dating back at least 70 years. The first team at the school had been football, and so it was intrinsic to the high school. Over time the prominence and stature of the school's football club grew to tremendous proportions, respected all around the country as one of the finest finishing institutions for high school football players. The team's alumni and financial support had no rival, and they always seemed to win the state championship, often ranked as one of the top teams in the nation. Its members were annually recruited to top universities and colleges, most of the time with full scholarships. Alas, as is often seen with inordinate power, the ones wielding it frequently abused it, letting the bias of the court and judicial systems in the area do their bidding for them. The members of the football team commonly got away with much wickedness, a common fact in the school. Some hated it, some envied it, and some believe it or not, did not even know about it.

It just so happens that one of the more eminent members of the team (the quarterback of course) found himself in an axiomatic football situation that first Friday morning. His sin had been one committed under the influence of alcohol, but really, he would have done it anyway. The nerve-ridden boy had awoken that morning drenched in his own sweat, having just woken up from a haunting dream that entailed of the worst of what could happen if his act was found out. He had been in a cold sweat the for the whole previous day, having learned about the breach that afternoon. That first Friday morning, he did not even eat breakfast, unusual for him, and instead proceeded to rush to straight to school, hoping the reach of the football team would help him once again as it had so _many_ times before. His usual arrogant swagger had abandoned him that morning, replaced by a careful jaunt. He forced a little debauchery back into his walk as neared the school's territory; it would not do him any good to show weakness and debunk his reputation.

And so, on that day within the first week, within the first hour of school, the high school student entered the huge establishment from the main entrance, walking past the Greek style pillars as if he owned the place, though not as boldly as usual. His shoes still being muddy from the alluvial ground upon which he previously walked, created a squeaking noise every time he took a step. His slightly orange, slightly brown hair waved in a potpourri of focal strands as he ambled on to his required destination; it was of a different shade than what people in this country were used to being born with. He was after all, the son of a wealthy immigrant. Perhaps that sense of fiscal power lead to the shaping of his attitude, such as scowling at the underclassmen who got in his way.

To say he did not see the many people (mainly girls) who stopped to give the usual flirtatious "hey" or "how's it going" through his trademark shades is a lie, he saw them alright, but instead of his usual meandering course through the school halls in the mornings, he walked in a straight line for once, bewildering many a passerby as to what could get the teen so very riled up. His usual pit-stops were cleared out by people already as he walked near them, many of them afraid of getting on his bad side, but he never paused in his wake. It left them confused but relieved as they sighed; disaster averted.

The most appalling of his actions that morning was his refusal to stop and chew the fat with his football buddies; he had somewhere he needed to be today. They offered him a noncommittal wave of the arm, as always, when he walked past, but were left dumbfounded when he just flicked them off; his way of saying to leave him alone. They stupidly stared at each other like buffoons, not being able to wrap their head around his actions.

As the worried boy walked on to the back end of the school, his thoughts were ones of fear, " _why now?"_ , _"have I been found out yet?"_ his usual aplomb in these sorts of situations completely abandoned him in his time of need. He was usually the most sangfroid of the football lot, never under any pressure in a game no matter the situation. The glare of the stadium lights only made him better. But, this matter was of a much different naature than a game of school; it was a game of life.

To think that alcohol had been the untimely catalyst of his whole dilemma was laughable, as he never went to a party unless it served the desirable liquid. He cursed his own stupidity and the trouble that his carnal desires often entailed. He was never able to moderate desire and lust; those two emotions often reigned supreme in swaying his fickle mind. If was set on something or _someone_ , he would not give up until he had gotten what he desired. It was this tenacity that was often the cause of his many near-misses.

These were just some of the downcast thoughts that rushed through his mind as he neared his destination, an unused classroom down a seldom used basement hallway; he was relieved to finally see it. He had bounded down the grand steps just a minute before, almost tripping with his haste. He saw that the door the room was already open, a good enough sign. In he went and he was greeted by a familiar voice, " _There_ you are Loke," a lean and sinewy blonde haired boy said, "took you long enough."

"Sorry Sting," he answered grudgingly while shoving his hands into his pockets and looking away, "you know how my damn alarm fucks up sometimes." It was true, he had been meaning to get a new one for months now. It often wok him up just 10 minutes before school.

"Well, clocks aside, we have a major problem to solve, you fucked up big time, and I don't know if it'll go away this time."

"Oh come on, I've never been caught before." Loke chided with false confidence while pointing to himself, "Who says I will now?

"One of our classmate's photos says otherwise." Sting couldn't believe his friend was taking this so lightly, little did know it was all a façade. Loke repeatedly made stupid mistakes when he was cavorting around, as if he had nothing to fear. Loke's arrogance would soon be his undoing if was not careful. Just as Sting was about to say something else, the door to the room slammed open, revealing a panting red-brown haired fellow senior. "What is it Dan?" Sting asked. The dude seriously needed to work out more in his opinion. His summers were mostly spent running after girls instead of _actual_ running.

"We don't have to worry about Loke's screw up," he wheezed between deep breaths, "Laxus rolled over the whole thing this morning before school; completely took care of it." The blonde monster was one of the premier linebackers at their level, highly recruited by a number of colleges. He could illicit fear with a flick of his wrist, and his power-hungry attitude only enhanced his football prowess. When Laxus set out to do something, he made sure that the task was done. It seemed that that was how it had happened in this case.

"Really?" Sting questioned, his voice still dubious, "We _don't_ have to worry about Loke's picture getting taken at last Saturday's party, the one where he was making out with some random fucking chick while groping her ass?" Honestly Sting thought that something like this was bound to happen if you constantly cheated on your girlfriend with every girl you laid eyes on. It hadn't even _been_ that incult of a party, yet Loke had _still_ found a way to twist and turn himself into a girl's pants.

"Yes, _really_ , Laxus got the picture off of whoever took it, I pray for the poor bastard, wherever he is, he's probably lying unconscious in some alleyway." Dan shuddered, having been on the receiving end of one of Laxus's beat downs before.

"Are you for real?" asked Loke, relief already threatening his pores, but he would not let it in until he was certain for sure, "How did he manage to track down whoever took the picture?"

"Well, apparently he caught a glimpse of them when they flashed the camera on their phone, and then followed them home, I know it sounds creepy, but you'll be grateful to his ass later." Laxus had skillfully memorized the address and location of the photo-shooter, making sure to keep tabs on his victim until the job was done.

Finally giving in to Dan's claim, Loke let out a whoop of victory; he would not have to endure wallowing away in abrasive hook ups after being brusquely dumped. Honestly he should just stop sleeping around until he got what he wanted (his girlfriend's virginity) but he just couldn't help himself sometimes. He threw an arm around Dan's shoulders and grinned at him elated; they went through the door that was left ajar by a departed Sting.

Sting had already left, muttering something about a morning workout, while Dan, a lecherous grin on his face, walked alongside Loke, looking like he was about to ask a question. "So, once you've finished your elaborate "mission" with your girlfriend, you don't care what happens to her right?"

"I don't give a shit once I get the prize, I'm already sick of hiding My real self whenever I'm around her and her goddamn friends, playing some fucking "noble knight" role." Any more of it might be emetic. Anytime the irritated teen was in his girlfriend's vicinity, he found himself having to change his entire personality. It was trivial at first, but he learned to tread carefully; he never knew when his girlfriend would pop around some corner.

"Good, because I wouldn't mind getting in on some of that shit myself. Her tits are like globes and her ass is sooo tight."

Laughing together they walked out of the room continuing to talk about bodily features, the sun shining through the windows no longer filling them with unease, but pleasurable relief, as they realized that they had dodged quite the dangerous bullet. The enervating aspect of the ordeal wiped clean, gave them a new outlook on their day, and it was during this reevaluation that Dan realized something, "Hey its partners assigning day today isn't it? I forgot at first because of this whole mess in the morning."

"Holy shit, you're right!" Loke exclaimed, ecstatic with hope as to who his partner would be in his final year, "I wonder if I'll get someone hot this year?"

"Probably not, most of the hot girls are juniors, including your girlfriend."

"Oh yeah," Loke sighed, he forgot about the sad predicament all the males in his year suffered each year, seeing as how all the other grades' partners all seemed to be romantically involved in some way, except for the ones who had a partner that was the same gender as them. "Maybe there are some new girls this year."

"Don't get your hopes up" Dan replied solemnly, knowing full well, that with their luck, they'd probably get boys again this year. _"Great,"_ he thought, _"another boring year filled with dicks."_

"At least be grateful that your girlfriend's never gotten a boy as her partner" Dan continued, "you've never had to worry about anyone stealing her away, she's actually pretty oblivious when it comes to your true personality, I'm surprised that you've been able to keep this up for so long."

"It's all in the acting" Loke replied, head full of confidence at his clever hoodwinking. "She'd never suspect the only reason I act like a gentlemen is to get her pussy."

As the two boys continued to talk like heathens, neither noticed that snippets their conversation was picked up by a boy with a hoodie covering his head, who just happened to pass by when Loke was spouting particularly raucous statements. Neither knew just how much their accidental slip up would damage them in the months to come.

Remembering something Loke paused, "Oh yeah, I forgot, you're not the first to ask me if they could have her when I'm done with her, Laxus did the other day, and the day before that, Sting did the same thing."

"Did Rogue ask as well?", Dan was seething with anger. _"HOW DARE THEY," "they can't have what I've already dreamed about."_ Cloaking his inner outburst, he pressed Loke for more information, "Who else has been having amorous thoughts about my beloved?"

"Calm down man, you want the same thing we all do, don't act like you're some saint who's declared chastity. Anyway," Loke continued, "there's someone who is probably more obsessed with her than you are."

"WHO?!"

"Galahad Finnick"

"That prick!" Dan almost shouted. However, he himself knew that the list of boys who wanted to bang her went on and on, he never thought he'd have to compete with that slimy bastard. Galahad was lower than scum in many people's minds, but most were too afraid to do anythinging about him. His arrogance knew no limits and neither did his greed. He could often be found rating every girl he saw one out of ten, ten being th highest. While it made his friends laugh and clap his back, most bystanders were always disgusted.

Consequently the man whose character and person were currently under unbridled, yet ephemeral attack, turned the corner that they were about to use themselves, on their way to their first period class.

He had bleach-white hair swept across the crown of his head, with piercing, commanding green eyes. "Well, well, well," Galahad smirked, "look what we have here. A manwhore and his crony."

"Shut the fuck up Finnick!" Dan yelled, "You can't have her!"

Bewildered at first, because he had no idea what Dan was talking about, a look of enlightenment appeared on Galahad's face. He grinned in mocking way, stretching his lips wider than usual, "It's not like a person like you could sway her mind after heartbreak, I'll make her mine in more ways than one when I capture her in my clutches." He smiled lecherously.

"I'd like to see you try." Dan retorted.

While this altercation was occurring, Loke was only mildly shocked, even he did not objectify the other sex as much as these two idiots (though he was guilty of it on a daily basis), but they were all part of the football team at Magnolia High, and whether they liked it or not, they all had begrudgingly come to a sort of truce, albeit one that just meant they would not get physical. They could debase and impugn one another all they wanted.

Whatever analgesic had caused the members of the football team to be so driven by their own testosterone was beyond answering, that was just the way things were with them.

Galahad had had enough of this petty morning squabble (often it happened in the evenings instead), he narrowed his eyes and drew his mouth into a mocking glare, "Whatever, neither of us can predicate who she'll go out with, but I will say that whoever she doesn't pick will have to back the fuck off."

"Fine," Dan sneered, he didn't really care as much if she didn't pick him as long as it wasn't this fool.

The two had a mutual hatred due to the paradox in that they both had similar intentions with the girl (more so than the other males), emulating each other's personality half the time.

Loke had been only half listening, instead focusing upon how he would able to bed his girlfriend before the end of the year, perhaps at the annual Christmas party he thought, or maybe at homecoming. Prom was another option for him too, but he knew that by that point it was too close to the end of the year, and that he would not able to have any sexual freedom for any part of the school year.

Coincidentally, all three were in the same first period, Biology. They arrived in front of the classroom still bickering lightly, the act of conversation not alerting them to their arrival to the lab, until they were halfway through the doorway. Dan and Loke went to the back of the room where they could easily cheat off of the more assiduous students, while Galahad sat with one of his friends. None of the trio noticed the new student sitting in the middle left corner of the room, the same one that had heard Loke in the hallway, as well as the only one in the classroom who heard their conversation outside the class, due to not having any friends to talk to in the room, as well as having enhanced hearing. Since they had come to class slightly late, due to their disgusting conversation, they had also missed the teacher's introduction of the new student. Also omitted from their brains was the fact that he was an advanced student and was actually a junior.

The teacher began the daily assembly, including the pledge of allegiance, Loke didn't even stand up, and the roll call. Actually, many of the students reflected Loke's nonchalant attitude, as they were all secretly anticipating the yearly partner list that would be posted at the end of the day.

The teacher, noticing this, put his hands in his pockets, and offered his students an apologetic smile, "I know you all are anxious for the announcement, but may I remind you that if you just sit there and let your muscles be atrophied from disuse," his smile turned into a more serious expression, "then you will be miserable today. Oh that reminds me, there has been a rule change this year; if you are within mutual agreement with your partner from the previous year, you may both request to be partner's again the following year, that is all."

Predictably this caused quite the uproar within the class, some people excited to be able to have the same partner, while some were hesitant as to which path to diverge upon. Dan and Loke had both been playing paper football when the teacher had uttered the trigger words, Dan had missed in his shock, and Loke's hand had slipped from underneath its resting place under his chin. The carousal carried on into the lesson, and the teacher was regretting his decision to announce the change in code by the end of the class, barely anyone paying attention to him, except for the new student.

Neither Dan nor Loke were affected much by the announcement, but like most of the other seniors in the class, they were shocked at the rule change, for as long as they had been at the school, there had never been a rule change, it was simply unheard of. Feeling confused the two walked out of class with the rest of the students when the bell rang, signaling the next period. The next few periods washed away any feelings of unease they had, time proving again to be a pacifying element of the universe, as the arrival of the fifth period meant that it was time for lunch.

Loke was excited, finally it was time for lunch! He hadn't gotten to see his curvy girlfriend that morning, since he had been too caught up in his prior engagement. Slipping into his alternate, concocted for his girlfriend, personality like he was a Broadway actor, he yelled in seeming ecstasy as he neared the cafeteria, directed toward the girl who occupied the indecent and scheming thoughts of many a male, "LUCY MY PRINCESS, I HAVE COME FOR YOU!"


	3. Distorted View

**I just want to thank anyone who viewed or reviewed. I myself am too lazy also to actually review, so I understand. Also just say the word and I will change the rating to M.**

 **I own nothing.**

Distorted View

"LUCY MY PRINCESS, I HAVE COME FOR YOU", hearing her boyfriend's almost daily message was beginning to sound like a broken record to Lucy, but she didn't mind, too much. As she turned herself away momentarily from the conversation she was having with her fellow lacrosse players, Lucy took in Loke's appearance as he sauntered over to her, hands in his pockets, a harmless smile etched upon his face, all the menace and swagger from his walk gone as soon as he morphed into the "Gentleman", but she didn't know that. To her he was a sweet, caring guy who couldn't possibly ever hurt her.

For as long as she could remember (she had known the boy since the 7th grade) he had been especially nice to her, and treated her like some sort of princess. She remembered it like it was yesterday, walking into Magnolia Middle School (all the schools in the town were bizarrely named after said town, a drunk gerrymandering council meeting was often blamed), she was nervous as she had just moved into town and did not yet know anybody, as the majority of her summer had been spent relocating and unpacking. She was very fidgety and felt flustered every time someone's gaze fell upon her. As she made her way to class a little early (she couldn't very well straggle in the hall if she had no friends yet), the floor had the benefit of her gaze, so she did not notice the boy she promptly crashed into until she was already down on the ground and in pain. As she accepted his hand she thought she saw a concupiscent look in his eyes flash for a brief second, but that incident was later lost in the depths of her subconscious, as he never gave her that look again (Loke wasn't as stupid as to give away his intentions a second time!), and she thought that it must have just been her imagination. The boy had introduced himself as Loke and said that he was extremely sorry. Having complimented her looks, and leaving her blushing as a consequence, he left with a smile on his face, one that turned devious when he turned away from her.

Blithe from her encounter, Lucy had turned into her new classroom with renewed vigor, and plopped herself down on her assigned seat. Fortuitous for her, the person who was her seating partner would soon become her friend. The petite blue-haired girl had a sparkling smile which she showered Lucy with while introducing herself as Levy Mcgarden. The two had soon found out they had much in common, such as a love for reading and writing as well as lacrosse, Levy having played since she was 5, a similar age as to when Lucy herself had started.

Feelings of instability and her many jitters were soon allayed by the bubbly and genuine exposition of her new friend, compounded when the duo found out that they shared their first three periods with each other! By the end of lunch on that fateful day, Lucy had been introduced to the rest of Levy's friends, basically consisting of most of the members of the school's feeder lacrosse team. The girls were all very nice, albeit a little weird, but who isn't Lucy thought. Sitting at lunch that day, she casually inquired about Loke, and was immediately received by strange looks on the majority of the girls' faces. "He's a dangerous player" they had told her, and insisted on her staying away from him.

Now Lucy always thought that you shouldn't judge a person based on first impression, or at least until you got to properly know them, (a thoughtful point of view, but one that was a grave mistake for her in this case) so she did not resist Loke's constant advances to chat during the rest of that year, and eventually the rest of middle school after they became friends. Upon entering high school, everyone knew that Loke wanted Lucy, but only his friends knew the camouflaged and twisted reasons why. Still, Lucy and her friends had been dissuaded about their initial suspicions about Loke over time, and there were rumors that he was no longer a player (of course originating from him).

So when, in the fall of her freshmen year, Loke casually came up to her and asked her out, Lucy surprisingly said yes. He was after all, very attractive (most on the football team were), as well as a seeming gentleman. While he wasn't really Lucy's type, and she really wanted to find true love, she thought it couldn't hurt. There hadn't yet been a boy who had completely swept her off her feet, and Lucy didn't want to wait around for something that might never happen. Mainly, she agreed with Loke for 2 reasons.

One, he was very nice to her, and she did believe that it was genuine (false), and two, while she knew she did not love him, Lucy knew that the simplest things could make you fall in love with someone. If she gave Loke a chance, then maybe he would be the one to sweep her off of her feet.

And so started a blossoming, yet simple relationship. Lucy was content, nothing more, nothing less. Loke had yet to fully swoon her, but she was still holding out, still waiting to fall in love with Loke. Not helping was the fact that their relationship was often the victim of controversy.

Lucy could recall many times when she had heard disturbing rumors, only to be assuaged by Loke's clever rhetoric (his friend's often told him he would kill it in the debate team with that kind of talent for eloquence). Her friend's were not as quick to forget as Lucy, but they did too eventually, all except for one particularly sharp redhead .

This particular girl was the only one of Lucy's friends in the cafeteria not smiling at Loke as he made his way over, a forged grin on his face. "Hey Loke", Lucy smiled as she wrapped her arms around his torso. "Where were you this morning, you didn't come to our usual spot in front of the auditorium?"

"I had a football meeting love, and you know I can't miss those."

"I suppose so" Lucy conceded, she didn't mind his commitment but thought that sometimes it felt as if the school's football coach was insane. The meetings were always at the strangest of times. Little did she know that half of them were fabricated.

Feeling eyes burn holes on his back, Loke's gaze shifted to the unwaveringly serious face of one of Lucy's friends. "Why hello there Erza, you look spritely today" he complimented with an air of confidence, however on the inside he was nervous.

Erza shifted her hands to her hips and stared into his eyes, looking for even a shred of uncertainty, she didn't find it however; Loke had gotten better at hiding his emotions over the years. "Good afternoon Loke, I didn't realize that the football program was so erratic when scheduling its meetings." she stated, but it was more of a question.

Loke swallowed,"You know how the coach is, one second he's here, and the next he's reliving his 20th birthday, haha." The joke did nothing to diffuse the tension. He just didn't get it, all of Lucy's other friends ate up his act like beggars on the street, all except for this bitch. He made a note to himself to tread more lightly when it involved Erza.

"I suppose so, but I do think that it's still a little too early in the year for football meetings Loke" Erza challenged with a hint of menace, turning around to go sit at their usual table, her hair flowing.

"Sorry about her", Lucy apologized, "I don't know what goes on in that mind of hers sometimes. It's like she thinks you're some kind of closet rapist or something. Now, that would be a tall tale!

"Ye, yeah," Loke stuttered while Lucy giggled at her own joke, "that would be pretty crazy."

"I mean you are an amazing guy, and I'm very lucky to have you." Lucy gushed. "I just wish Erza could appreciate that too."

"Well, nobody's perfect, except for you of course."

"Sh-shut up" Lucy blushed, honestly the things he said sometimes, its a wonder why she still didn't love him.

Smiling, Loke checked his phone, "Oh shit, it's 1:00! I gotta go to my counsellor's room to sign up for a volunteering opportunity, see ya later."

Still smiling, he kissed her goodbye, and turned to walk away, the smile quickly morphing into a smirk. No way he'd ever be caught dead sitting with those bitches, much less volunteering, he thought. Usually he just went out to the parking lot and smoked or drank with his friends, which is exactly what he went to do.

Very different thoughts ran through Lucy's mind as her boyfriend walked out of the lunchroom. She was very proud of him and hoped he would get a sense of fulfillment from volunteering. Maybe this would be the year that Loke finally made her fully fall for him!

Turning she walked at a brisk pace to catch up with her friends, who had already started for their usual table in the corner of the cafeteria, chatting as they went. As she walked she received several perverted glances, most of them from Galahad, but she never noticed due to their covert nature.

"So Juvia, made a move on Gray yet." a mischevious Levy was teasing just as Lucy neared her friends. The other girls groaned, if ever there was touchy subject, it was the fact that Juvia's relationship moved at a pace akin to a sloth, her and Gray both too shy to instigate anything beyond the traditional handholding, and that was when they thought no one was looking.

Predictably, Juvia's face heated up, "Sh, shut up, at least we've made more progress than you and Gajeel." None of them would ever understand how hard it was for her to just _be_ in Gray's magnificent presence.

lt was now Levy's turn to feel flustered, "Well me and Gajeel can go more than five minutes without letting our sexual tension turn us into puddles of water!" she half shouted. "I mean, who faints when someone holds their hand!?"

"That was one freaking time!" Juvia glared at her longtime teammate. "All the other times I just swooned."

The twosome were interrupted from their glaring match by a slightly loopy voice, "Oh shut the fuck up you two, neither of you are getting some anytime soon, so keep quiet about your relationship wo-"

Cana was interrupted by a singsong voice, "Don't listen to her you guys, she's just pissed because she went through another bad breakup." The voice belonged to Mirajane. The girls turned, she was walking toward their table, bag in hand, predictably a few minutes late from a student council meeting.

"Oh, stuff it Mira, it wasn't a bad one, and that bastard deserved it."

"Really, I heard from a little birdy that a certain someone was bawling their eyes out." insinuated Mira, innocence dripping from her like honey. Really, Cana shouldn't try to act so tough when she was hurting.

"A little bi-, LUCY," Cana shouted, anger written across her face, "how could you, I told you not to tell anybody?!"

"Don't start with me Cana, I was seriously worried." Lucy huffed as she ate her salad. Honestly, Cana had to take better care of her heart, or one day it would shrivel up and die from the constant heartbreak.

"Well don't expect me to share secrets with you next time." Cana said, sticking her tongue out and giving Lucy the finger, then she smirked, "Speaking of relationships failing, doesn't your's seem a little flat right now?"

Lucy pursed her lips, confusion laced her features, "How so?", she knew that Loke loved her (false), and that she was happy with him, no matter what miniscule doubts seemed to occasionally resurface. Things were just as they had always been, sweet and simple.

"I think what she means, is that Loke just isn't around you a lot, and that he seems busier this year than he was last year." Lisanna piped up.

Wendy nodded shyly in agreement, her dark blue hair waving, a little afraid to voice her opinion to her older teammates, "Yeah, don't get me wrong Lucy, Loke seems like a great guy, but he appears to be more distant with you now (said guy was currently sucking face with some bimbo in the parking lot).

"I don't like to take advice from underclassmen" Lucy pouted, although she checked Wendy's face to make sure she knew she was just joking. "I mean give the guy a chance guys, he's always been truthful and faithful, while being an absolute gentlemen."

Erza was about to open her mouth to answer, but Lucy cut her off, "Do you guys think that he doesn't really love me?" she questioned, afraid to hear the answer.

"The question is, do you love him Lucy?" Erza countered, a scowl on her face; just thinking about that jerk made her worked up, but she still didn't have an answer as to why after 4 years. "They say that you only truly love someone if you are willing to totally submit your mind, body, and soul to them, with no fear of backlash."

"Honestly I don't know," Lucy answered truthfully, "whenever my mom used to describe her feelings for my dad when they were growing up, she said she used to feel butterflies in her stomach and a sense of warmth among other things when she was near him, and that even when she wasn't close to him, he was always in her mind."

"And, do you feel that?", Mirajane asked.

"No, but" and Lucy's face now changed from one of sadness to hope, "maybe it just hasn't happened yet and will eventually, it's not like I've ever met anyone that makes me feel those apparent signs of love anyway." She proceeded to take a ferocious bite out of an apple as if to emphasize her point.

Levy sighed, although her and Juvia's relationships were physically pathetic, they were filled with love. She loved Gajeel and knew that Juvia had the same infatuation with Gray, but, it just wasn't the case with Lucy and Loke. The school might idolize the two, but the fact remained that Lucy didn't love him, and no matter how many times Loke professed his undying love for her, Levy couldn't help but feel something was off. Maybe it was when Loke didn't look at Lucy when conversing with her sometimes, or maybe it was when he showed mock interest in her life. Levy may have been inexperienced, but she knew that was not the way true lovers acted.

Erza, wanting to turn the conversation to something less depressing, spoke up, "So what do you guys think about the rule change for the student partner system this year?"

Lisanna, twirling her pasta as she played along, joined in, "Oooh, I for one hope I get someone new this year, last year I was stuck with this girl in the marching band."

"What's so bad about that?" Cana wondered.

"Well, she didn't have time for anything, so I had to do half the work myself; I never thought there would be an extracurricular with more time commitment than lacrosse."

"To be fair, they do have a lot of practice."

"I guess, though doing all that work last year was so not fun."

Giggling at Lisanna's pout, Lucy momentarily forgot about her troubles, "Well I on the other hand, hope to get someone interesting." she meant it too, her previous partners had been nice, but a little too much on the boring side.

"Maybe it'll be a guy who makes you forget all about Loke" Cana snickered, causing Lucy to go red.

"Be quiet Cana!" she said, flustered, but her reply was almost completely drowned out by the periodical tolling of the bell, again signaling the end of a period.

Lucy got up while bidding her friends goodbye and started walking out of the lunchroom with Wendy, taking the south exit to go to their AP calculus class. Wendy was an advanced student, and coincidentally in Lucy's class.

A small frown was present on Wendy's face when Lucy caught up with her, turning her head she addressed Lucy, "I'm sorry that we ganged up on you like that at lunch"

Lucy paused, a little confused, but grateful nonetheless, "It's alright Wendy, I know you guys were just looking out for me, and it was actually an insightful conversation."

"Well that's good to hear." Wendy smiled as they neared the classroom.

They had just paused in the doorway as Wendy forgot that she hadn't yet told her friends that her half-brother started school that day, when an angry voice came from behind them, "MOVE OUT OF THE WAY BITCHES!".

Lucy groaned, "Good day to you too Evergreen."

"Whatever," the head cheerleader said, "just don't block the doorway again."

Some things never changed, but what did change was the state of Wendy's epiphany, and she again forgot about her brother.

Lucy's calculus teacher was having a similar problem to Loke's Biology teacher; none of the kids seemed to want to pay attention. He inwardly groaned, thinking that if this kept up, they would all fail the test on Monday, but there was nothing he could do.

The rest of the day passed without much incident for Lucy, if you didn't count the hilarious news that Gray had walked the entire perimeter of the school searching for his clothes only to find them mysteriously in his locker. Other than that, the partner list held all of her attention. As the last bell of the day rung, she said by to Lisanna, who was in her last class, and made her way to her locker. She was the only one among her group of friends that actually stored items in her locker, instead of toting them around in her bag the whole day. They thought she was crazy, but she insisted that they'd envy her when they were all old and she was the only one without back problems.

Punching in her combination, she noticed a flash of pink in her locker' mirror, bewildered, she turned around, but saw nothing except for the back of a kid wearing a red hoodie, walking quickly as he went. _"Hmm, must've imagined_ _it_ " she thought. Filing away her stuff, she proceeded to head to her final destination in school for the day, the student partner list.

The student partner board was the near the entrance of the school, strategically placed so students could read it as they exited the school at the end of the day. As soon as principal Makarov posted the list, the students milling around rushed to it so quickly they knocked the poor man over; he would be seen later in the day grumbling about "damn kids" and "testosterone rushes". Chuckling passerby simply thought him senile.

Anticipation built within Lucy as she slowly made her way through the the orgy of people all trying to get a crack at the board. Huffing when she realized she had a ways to go, she noticed her friends weren't there, _"they probably already saw it."_ she thought wistfully, some company would've been nice.

After what seemed like a lifetime (reality-6 minutes), Lucy was finally close enough to make out the names on the huge list. She carefully slid her eyes down until she stopped at the "H" section. Lucy knew nearly everyone in school at least by name, and she wondered which one of them would be her partner this year. Peering closely she made out a strange name; surprise clouded her features, she had at least expected to somewhat recognize it-

Who the hell was this guy!?


	4. Colorful Personalities

**Thank you to anyone who viewed, this chapter does not leave off of the last one, but instead builds up to the same point with a different POV, and again leave a review if u think I should change to M**

 **I own nothing.**

Colorful Personalities

Sting was having a good day, he had gone through a satisfying morning workout, and received no homework in any of his classes leading up to lunch. Exiting the chemistry lab, he found his best friend Rogue punching in a dollar at the vending machine, "Hey man, what's up?" Rogue had been his close friend since childhood.

"Nothing much, just that this stupid machine won't take my money." his best friend said with a look of umbrage on his face. Usually he had trouble keeping his money _in_ his pockets, not out of it.

"Just shake it a little, usually works." Sting offered, but when he observed Rogue give the machine a light nudge he got a little annoyed, "You big pussy, that's not what I meant by shake!" and he proceeded to violently move it from side to side until it gobbled up the poor bill. "That's how it's done." he said with a proud smile on his face. That machine hadn't stood a chance.

"I'm sorry if I'm not a raving maniac, but I prefer to not get detention for destroying school property." Rogue said with a twitch of his head, directed at Sting.

"Like the school will do anything to us, they need us on the team." Sting boasted. It was true after all, the school mysteriously almost never saw fit to severely punish a member of the team.

Shaking his head at his friend's bullheadedness, Rogue started walking to the cafeteria, when his face turned into a more thoughtful one, and he voiced what many were thinking about that day, "So are you excited about the student partner announcement? The rules are supposed to be different this year, they made it so the both of us could keep our partners from last year if they were willing."

Sting's brow furrowed, "You _want_ to keep your partner from last year, that Yukino chick? I remember you gettin' all buddy-buddy with her" he smirked as Rogue's face reddened.

"We-well yeah, she's really nice and if she wants to, I'd like to keep being her partner." he answered rather bashfully. Yukino had been a huge help to him the past year, making sure he understood everything they were doing in class. Needless to say, Rogue had passed the year with flying colors, and he had been very grateful to his partner for helping him to get through the year. He may or may not have developed feelings for her. Whether they were naive and hormone induced or actual and real, was yet to be induced, Rogue being the only prude on the football team.

"Yeah I can see where you're coming from, I wouldn't mind staring at tits like that for a year either." Sting joke, visualizing the mentioned breasts in his head.

Before Rogue could heatedly suggest whether Sting wanted to see stars instead of tits for the whole year, the pair heard a cool, arrogant voice, "Hey fuckers, you heading out to lunch or to the lot?"

Sting turned around, there was Galahad, looking mighty pleased with himself for who knows what, _"probably scored some digits"_ Sting thought. "We're heading outside, no point being in the cafeteria if we can't mess with the freshmen." Galahad nodded, flipping his hair.

"Yeah, its a shame this year that the administration put an end to Freshmen Torment Week, I had a whole bunch of shit planned this year." he said with an evil grin.

The trio started for their cars, still talking about random things; sometimes they would just loiter in the parking lot, but other times, when feeling more adventurous, they would sneak out to go pick up lunch. The mud squished under their shoes, still wet from that morning's rain. Girls greeted them on their way, greetings returned with eye winks and staring once the girl had turned her back to them, oblivious to them as well as the changing of the seasons announced by the many leaves in the air; fall was upon them.

On and on they walked, careful to avoid detection after years of practice sneaking out at lunch, until they reached the back lot where their cars were parked, outside of immediate range so they could drink and smoke all they want, secluded by a veil of tree branches. "Oh, yeah, I saw Loke in the lunchroom," Galahad started, hands combing his white hair, "he was trying to chat it up with Lucy, but that redheaded bitch kept questioning him."

String laughed, "Serves the bastard right for not being more careful when he fucks a girl, you'd think he would've learned by now to not to do it at parties where anyone could just whip out their camera."

Rogue, having sat on his car's hood, spit out his water when he heard Sting, "Wait, he almost got caught again?! Why doesn't he just stay faithful to Lucy, his _girlfriend_?"

Galahad turned up his stereo before answering, "The answer to that is obvious dumbshit, there's no fun or point in staying faithful, all I see when look at a girl is a walking vagina just waiting to be fucked." Laughing at his twisted joke, he lit up a cigarette, "Only thing special about a girl like Lucy is that she's hotter than the average girl that I tend to ogle, nothing more, nothing less. Though one day I hope to get a piece of action from her as well."

Sting joined in, wanting to voice his opinion with a sexual innuendo of his own, "Yeah, she can suck me off any day."

Rogue gritted his teeth, he couldn't believe the two of them, but then again most of his teammates were like this. He must have missed it, but somewhere in middle school they had all become lecherous heathens. Pouring the rest of his water on a flower, he deepened his voice and narrowed his eyes, "I don't get it, if Loke is just like you guys, why is he going so slow with Lucy?"

"Because that bitch is still a virgin, and he plans on taking that prized possession away from her," Sting answered abruptly, "and when he does the rest of us free to go after her, since he obviously doesn't give a shit. His whole relationship's one big, fat lie."

"I plan on winning that race," Galahad cut in pompously, "she won't be able to resist my charms."

Sting cackled, "She'd probably choose a dildo to pleasure her over you."

Galahad's eyes narrowed and his face turned cold, he was about to tell Sting where _he_ could choose to put a dildo when loud rock music interrupted their squabble. The trio swayed their heads to the entrance of the back lot, catching the hulking form of Laxus (one of the linebackers) stalking over to them. "Sup bitches, little early today aren't we?"

"Class ended earlier for us today, the teacher was feeling merciful." Rogue informed.

Laxus nodded, taking a bottle of beer from out of his jacket pocket and popping open the cap with a mere flick of the thumb. "Loke's not here yet I see, is he actually going to sit with his girl for once?"

"Like hell he will, all those goody goodies talk about is their feelings and other crap like that." Sting wrinkled his face in disgust. As he said it a girl had entered the lot to get in her car so she could go get lunch, but she looked a little nervous with all those eyes trained her body. She quickly walked to her car, not wanting to attract any more attention than what was needed After she left all the guys except Rogue mirrored the same thought out loud-

"I would fuck her so hard."

"You idiots never change." Rogue sighed. He would've berated them even more had he not seen Loke bounding over to them in his peripheral vision, a victorious gleam in his eye and Dan trying to keep up with him. "Oh hey, look, it's Loke."

"Shit, that faggot Dan's with him," Galahad complained, "I actually didn't want to have to leave today."

"He's not that bad," Sting defended, honestly it was true that while Dan could get a little, no scratch that, very annoying at times, he was at least good company more often than not.

"I'm not taking the chance that he's not on his period today," Galahad parried, "because it seems like that every fucking day!" and he promptly got in his car and left, presumably to McDonald's.

As his car grated the exit path, Loke reached the group, with a grin still on his face, "Good news guys, we're all set for Saturday, I got a hook up just now!" While he said this and held up a slip of paper with numbers on it, he and Dan shed their jackets, revealing their cigarette packs, "Her name's Angel."

Laxus climbed in his car and frowned while starting the engine, "How'd you manage to do it this time playboy?"

"A magician never reveals his tricks." Loke playfully answered with a light voice.

"Shut the fuck up asshole!" Laxus shouted through the window of his car as he too drove off, middle finger wagging, also to McDonald's (what was it with football players and McDonald's?).

Chuckling, Loke turned to Sting and Rogue, "Anything exciting happen to you guys today?"

"Nothing much, except if you count Rogue being gay and wanting to keep his student partner from last year."

"It's not that big of a deal!"

"I see you Rogue, she got a nice body too!" Dan exclaimed, "I wouldn't mind tapping dat!"

"Me neither" Loke agreed, a perverted smile lighting up his face.

"Shut up!" Rogue fumed, his friends could be a bit too much sometimes. You couldn't go a few words without them pouncing on you with their perverse language. He stood up and put his hands in his pockets, walking away from their disgusting conversation.

"Oy, where are ya going?" one of them inquired.

"The weightroom!" and he was off running, having had enough of his friends for the day.

Sting switched his gaze back to Loke, "Never mind that prude, but what're you gonna do if _Lucy_ gets a partner that she wouldn't mind being with again, especially if she actually gets paired with a guy this time?"

Loke frowned, "You think that could happen?" he knew Lucy did not love him, the girl was not that stupid as to fully believe his constant confessions outright. He had yet to convince her heart to give in to him, mainly because he didn't truly love her. If the right guy (in his case the wrong guy) was partnered with her, he knew that someone with much more genuine intentions could possibly make her actually fall for them. And then he wouldn't be able to get what he so badly wanted.

"Obviously it could happen idiot, it's not like you actually care about her when you're not the "Gentleman"."

"I don't think you have anything to worry about," Dan supplied, "I mean what are the chances that her so called _soul mate,_ or whatever the fuck that dumb bitch believes in, will be her partner. Even if he exists, he's probably in some far off country. The odds of him being here and becoming her partner are pretty much zero."

Feeling slightly more reassured, Loke got up from his place on his car's hood, "I guess you guys are right, but I'm still gonna be fucking pissed if her partner's a guy." For the second time that day, he checked the time on his phone, eyebrows raising, as he realized that the bell was close to ringing. "We better get back guys, else we'll be caught."

Neither Sting nor Dan felt like going to detention that day, so they followed suit as Loke began walking back towards the back entrance of the school so they could sneak in inconspicuously.

Barely avoiding the officer on patrol, the threesome raced to the door, before slowing down in front of it. Causally swinging open the door, Loke asked Sting, "I forgot that I have something to do right after school today, could you check out who my partner is and text me later?"

Sting eyes narrowed questioningly, Loke never missed football practice, "Suuure, do ya want me to see who Lucy's partner is as well?"

"Yeah, that'll be helpful, thanks."

"No problem." They converged upon the stairway back up to the main floor, since the back entrance lead to the basement, and went their separate ways after saying goodbye. Slightly limping from a stubbed toe on the dash to the door, Sting headed to his next period, the class he absolutely hated the most; engineering. He took it thinking it would be an easy grade, but he didn't expect it to be so mind numbingly boring. The only pacifying element in that class was his hilarious classmate, Elfman. The boy was always randomly screaming out "MAN!", oftentimes when the teacher was talking, resulting in many detentions for the poor boy.

Said boy was currently playing a game on his phone which he had deemed macho, "Candy Crush". Sting sidled up to his fellow football player and offered a friendly hello.

Elfman looked up from his intense Candy Crush session, "Oh hello Sting, I didn't see you-MAN!-, I was too busy trying to get to the next-MAN!-level." He liked Sting, of course the burly lineman was one of the few on the football team who didn't know the true, hidden nature of the majority of the team's members, Gajeel being another one. "I was waiting for you actually, I have something important to tell-MAN!-you."

Sting sat down, shedding his jacket, "What's up?"

"Well you know how I'm always randomly yelling out "man"?"

"Yeeeaaah?"

"Well, I used to think it was because I was such a great man, but I went to my yearly-MAN!-checkup yesterday evening, and my doctor told me that I have a special form of Tourette's, where instead of cuss words, I scream "man" instead."

"Is there any particular reason as to why you don't cuss instead?", Sting thought that that would've been even funnier, as he tried to hold back a laugh, his cheeks bulging with air.

"Something about my brain-MAN!-being conditioned by my dad when I was little, because he used to yell "man" a lot too, I dunno, I didn't listen too much, I was too busy staring at the macho poster in the room."

Laughing at his classmate's hilarious situation, Sting instantly felt brighter than he had been before, Elfman always seemed to lighten people up, no matter how unwittingly he did it. A normal conversation for him was the same as a stand-up routine to others.

Elfman's hilarity ensued in class, especially when the teacher was informed by him of his condition. Said teacher grudgingly agreed to not levy any punishment on the boy, and for once, Elfman was not sent outside the class for punishment.

The slight euphoria he got from witnessing Elfman's antics in engineering carried Sting through the rest of the day, giving him energy in a particularly lackluster gym period, it was rodeo-dancing day. The only highlight of that period was when that, in Sting's words, "dumbass hockey player" barged into the gym, screaming for someone to give him back his clothes. The boys had guffawed at his near birthday suit, while the girls blushed deeply (they were lucky Juvia wasn't there!).

With laughter from the day in his heart, Sting exited his last class of the first week of school, first heading to his coach's office to get some medical papers for football practice, and proceeded to visit his literature class to retake a small quiz he had missed when he had ditched the second day of school. The only other person there was a bespectacled, purple-haired girl who was actually _conversing_ with a teacher after school. Sting couldn't fathom why that girl, _"I think her name was Laki"_ he thought, would want to talk to a teacher for fun.

Finishing his quiz quickly (he guessed on over half of them), he left for the school's exit, wanting to catch a glimpse at the student partner list. As he walked the empty hallways, he noticed a boy in a red hoodie walking ahead of him; Sting thought it was strange, since most people usually had either left or were in a club by now. That line of thought made him remember that football practice started in 15 minutes, and that he'd better get his ass over there fast.

He sprinted to the partner board, anticipation turning into slight anxiousness as he slowed, he was afraid what Loke might do if his girlfriend received a male partner for the first time. Shaking those thoughts away he approached the board, barely anyone there this late, and first located his name; he had been partnered with some random dude, _"again"_ he thought, rather wearily. Out of curiosity, he checked, and Loke had been partnered with a girl for once, though he didn't recognize the name.

Since he was already in the C-section, he also checked Rogue's name, predictably he was with Yukino; smirking he went to the H section, where his smirk quickly fell on his face as wheeled his body around and headed for the door, noticing that it had started to rain again. He decided right then and there that he would not tell Loke who Lucy's partner was right away, wanting to actually enjoy their Saturday outing. It wasn't just the fact that what he had seen was clearly a boy's name, but also that he had never even heard it before either.

 _"_ _Who the fuck was that?!"_


	5. Unadulterated Liturgy

**I am testing out different writing styles with this story, trying to decide which one fits it best. This chapter uses a lot more sensory details and imagery than the others, but I like how it turned out. It features the morning rituals of Wendy and her brother.**

 **I own nothing.**

Unadulterated Liturgy

Slowly the girl walked down the dusty hallway of her little apartment. The air had a musky smell, as it was raining pretty heavily outside. She was very careful not to awaken her recent living companion, instead choosing to let the poor boy sleep in a little longer, so she remained aloof; it was not yet 6 AM. Shadows creeped along the windowsills as she crept, the rainclouds outside facilitating their growth. It gave the apartment a gloomy atmosphere, highlighted by the lack of the warmth in the room. _"We have got to fix the air conditioning",_ the shivering girl thought sorely, her teeth chattering as she wished she had worn warmer pajamas.

She made her way to the bathroom, the tall doorway towering the small girl, and creaked open the door as to remain quiet, it was rough to her touch; often the door was the harbinger of splinters. Looking around, her eyes passed over the shower in the corner first, and then across the cabinets when she spotted what she desired, her toothbrush, next to what looked like seminal mold. Said stuff was always sprouting in the bathroom, no matter what the girl did, spray cleanser, scrub it down, she even once called an exterminator who told her that if she couldn't pay for it, he couldn't do anything- that had not been a good day for her. This time the mold had a funky smell that made her want to just puke her guts out; it was an odd mixture of green and blue.

Huffing with umbrage, she was careful not to touch the repulsive stuff, and slowly picked up her brush and took out her paste, squirting it on the hairs. She gripped the soft, rubber handle and started brushing, humming a soft, bucolic tune as she went. Seeing her teeth bared reminded her of her dentist appointment over the summer, where she had been thankfully told that, no, she would not need braces, much to her relief. Smiling the girl reflected upon this part of her day, finding that she quite enjoyed it, her daily morning ritual gave her time to think about the day ahead of her, it didn't matter if it was a school day or not, she approached everyday the same. That particular morning she was thinking about her homework, pondering whether she had finished it aaall- SPLAT!

With a jolt she had spit out the foam in her mouth, cursing her own stupidity, as the water that was just in her mouth washed over the sink and mirror in front of her (that won't help the mold problem!). She had totally blanked about her world history assignment that was due in 4 hours! She had to get school ASAP! Scrambling to finish her routine, she raced through flossing and hair-brushing. Checking her reflection in the mirror, she didn't notice much off, not that she cared about her looks much anyway, and so proceeded to exit the bathroom.

Her feet padded the carpeted floor as the girl blitzed her way to the kitchen, it was a small room, with a tile padded floor adorned by a sink connected to a counter as well as a black stove. The small, white fridge stood in the back. Those were among the things she saw as she looked around questioningly; what could she make in less than five minutes? She went for toast first, but found that somehow there was mold on the bread too (gross)! Grumbling under her breath, she instead opened the small fridge in the corner of the kitchen, right behind the counter and pulled out the milk carton. _"Milk will have to do for today",_ she thought wearily as she poured a cupful of it into a glass. The girl had often found that she could go on just a cup of milk when she needed to, though she had to engorge herself during lunchtime when she did, her friends often wondered where her ravenous hunger came from. In her hurried state, some milk spilled onto the floor but the ambivalent girl couldn't care less at the moment, her work was far more important than breakfast.

She gulped down the milk and surged to her closet, taking out her cool, yellow rainjacket and putting it on, as well as her purple book bag along with her lacrosse stick. She sat down on the front step in front of the door, lacing her shoes together, as she surveyed the room around her, looking for a sign of aberration, but found none. Her eyes drifted back down the hallway where she knew her brother lay, peacfully sleeping, _"Oh yes,"_ she recalled, _"today's the day he starts at Magnolia High"._ Mentally berating herself for again forgetting to tell her friends that he would be joining, she finished tying up her shoes. _"They'll love him",_ she thought, _"I know I do."_ They might not have been blood siblings, each was viviparous in some way different from the other, but were closer than most direct siblings. She smiled as she reminisced the happy memories she had shared with him through the years.

She opened the door and stepped out, her shoes groaning from the change of floor, and then turned around and shouted "NATSU! I'm heading out now, see you at school, and don't be late!" With that she cheerfully headed for the steps, dropping down one by one as her growing anticipation for the last day of the first week grew steadily.

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"Uuuuugh", Natsu groaned, cursing Wendy's delight of waking him up, her rooster call having ruined his state of bliss. Sunlight now peeked out from behind the clouds, while the rain slowly disseminated. The gentle rays coyly filtered in through the windows, leaving Natsu in no position to drift back to the world of his placid dreams, as they burned his eyelids, reminding him of the pleasant feeling of warm water. Slowly he lifted his eyelids, fluttering them down again when the light became too much.

Back and forth this droll routine continued; his eyes would carefully test their sensitivity and then find it too caustic to their liking, and proceed to shut again. For a few minutes Natsu contemplated not even going to school, _"It is Friday after all, I won't really be missing anything important."_ he reasoned with himself while readjusting his body under the covers; reveling in the smoothness of his pillow, he fell again into a state of gentle cadence. He was also a little scared to be starting at _yet_ another school. While contemplating his conversation with Wendy the previous night, he listlessly recalled her saying something about a partner system, and that he would be receiving his assignment for it on that day. She had told him that it was imperative he not miss it, admonishing him on his vacillation when it came to school. Not wanting to get on the wrong side of his deceivingly innocent sister, he resolved to get ready for his first day of school.

 _"Get up legs... GET THE HELL UP!"_ Natsu inwardly groaned; his body just did not want to move today. Perhaps it was the all nighter he had pulled the last night, engaging for several hours in a video game marathon. He loved any game that featured dragons, so when he had found out that there was a game called _Dragon_ Age, emphasis on the dragon part, he couldn't wait to try it out. When he finally bought it, he was not disappointed; the game had earned the many accolades that had been heaped upon it for the past year. Natsu had spent hours alone on the avatar creation screen, _"that's probably why I slept so late"_ he thought not regretting the perfect replica he had made of himself. Scrolling through the start screen, after picking the mage class, Natsu had decided to try and beat at least 20% of the game that night, probably _why_ he slept so late _._ In retrospect it seemed like a stupid decision on the whole, and he rued not taking the hint from Wendy's austere tone that night as she said stumbled off to bed, tired from a good day's work.

Finally, after cajoling his damned legs for a few minutes, he was able to gently swing them off of the bed, his body followed suit until his sleeping form became one that was sitting upright on the bed, his feet dangling near the floor (it's a tall bed!). While stretching his limbs to a satiating CRACK, he took a whiff of the air, and smelled the honey of morning due, indicating that it had just finished raining. He looked down, his feet were dangerously close to touching the pile of CD's that were stacked at the base of his bed, so he was careful as he got ready to step out of it. Natsu checked the time-7:16-, he still had enough to get ready. As his feet touched the floor, toes curling as they basked in the tingling touch, he surveyed the room, making sure nothing was _too_ out of order. Manga volumes were strewn across their normal spots on the floor, as well as his clothes, also last night's dinner lay half eaten on his desk. His pinched his nose when he saw the food, if Wendy had ordered something better than _squid,_ he might have actually eaten it. The boy loved food, but when it was a revolting mess he preferred not to get sick.

Shaking his head at his own lamentable anecdote, Natsu took a step forward, intent on freshening up in the bathroom, the way any bright day should be started, when his feet caught the handle of something- "AAAAHH!" With a thud his head hit the ground, leaving a healthy bruise. His nose tickled the carpet, earning an itchy feeling on his face. He rubbed his head soothingly as he picked himself up, spotting the culprit.

It was the handle of one of his katanas.

 _"I must not have put them away last night_ " he thought as he stooped to do just that, shoving them in the very back of his closet. It's not that he was ashamed of his life, but he preferred Wendy being the only one who actually knew _who_ he was for now, that sort of information was not the of the nature that should be leaked. Natsu proceeded to check his room for any more "weapons", and finding none, went for the door, swinging it open with its mahogany handle. He briskly walked down the hallway leading to the bathroom, not wanting to risk being late on his first day. This was fueled by his remembrance of a particularly awry incident 5 years ago where he had been late on the first day of school, causing the teacher to immediately label him as an intractable student. No matter what he did from that point onward, the teacher would always eye him wearily, as if she expected trouble. _"Funny how a person's prejudices can blind their view"_ he thought, disappointment clouding his features.

He reached the bathroom he shared with Wendy, they did not have enough money to get a larger apartment, and went inside, only to find _more_ mold on the sink. "AAAUUU, what the hell, that's disgusting!" he ejaculated, _"I thought we got rid of that stuff when I scrubbed it out last week."_ The slimy substance made him want to puke, so Natsu hurriedly grabbed his toothbrush and squirted on some mint toothpaste. Like Wendy, he enjoyed having a bout with his thoughts ahead of the day while brushing, phrases like _"I wonder if I'll make any friends this time"_ and _"I hope they serve good food"_ ran rampant through his mind, unchecked because he was also brushing. He stared at his somber face in the reflection of the mirror, sighing in defeat as he deduced that he would _again_ not be able to control his spiky hair. He had tried many times to tame it, but failed miserably every single time. Sometimes Natsu thought that that was why no one was friendly to him, because he looked homeless and slovenly half of the time.

SPLAT- he spit out the water and paste that were previously entrenched in a battle inside his mouth, facilitated by his tongue. Careful to not touch it, he then scooped up the mold with a tissue after placing his brush back, and made his over to the toilet (he would beat this stuff, yet!). Little did he know that misery was about to befall him, as a stray tissue roll got tangled up in his feet, causing him to lose his balance. Natsu yelped before taking an involuntary dive. Realizing his head was about the collide with the porcelain bowl, _"I can't take another hit to the head today!",_ he twisted his body 180 degrees and jumped slightly, the angles calculating themselves in his head from constant practice, at least now he wouldn't hit anything hard-SPLASH!

The back of his head felt slightly wet as he realized that the top of his hair was probably sitting in the toilet water. With a groan he discerned that he would now regrettably have to take a bath. He usually took one in the mornings, but Natsu wanted to get to school early today, yearning to get a feel for the school and it's layout, as well as it's atmosphere.

Boiling in annoyance, he stripped and stepped into the bath, turning the shower handle and letting the cool water rain down his hair and onto the cool, white tile of the shower floor. With grudging discomfort he put shampoo in his hands and started to massage his hair clean, from what he knew was surely piss-water. He only spent 7 minutes under the stream, wanting to actually spend even less, but found himself enraptured by the tranquil euphoria one often finds in a shower, the bliss making time pass him by rather quickly until he noticed his slip-up.

Natsu quickly shut off the shower and stepped out, drying himself with his red towel from the previous day. He wrapped it around his waist and ventured back to his room to see if could not find some clothes on the ground. Searching frantically for some slacks, he found his reflection in the mirror in his room, and stopped to stare at it. Pink hair stuck out in fuzzy potpourri, still being wet and all, along with well-defined, lean muscles stared back at him. The poor boy found himself wondering why on earth so many had shunned him at his old schools. He was a friendly person, at least he thought he was, and always tried his best to act nice towards others, finding an equilibrium between humor and amiability. _"Maybe it's the pink hair",_ he thought regrettably, catching his onyx eyes in the mirror reflecting his sentiment. He slowly slid his eyes away from the mirror, looking for his favorite apparel, his scarf.

The scarf always gave Natsu hope, it had been passed down in his family for generations, said to have its origin with the ancient emperors of the Far East. The scarf's lore stretched farther than that, it was only given to the next heir of the Dragneel line, but that dynasty had ended long ago. Now it was more like a novel heirloom, but Natsu treasured it above all else nonetheless. Seeing it around his neck gave him new tenacity with which to tackle the seemingly insurmountable obstacle that lay before him.

With vigor, he shook himself from his ruminating session, he would _not_ succumb to the same alienation he had received at the older schools. Picking his clothes up with slightly more zing than usual, he marched out of his room after putting them on, a long-sleeved sweater vest along with kaki pants, adorned by his scarf of course. Natsu stomped up to the kitchen counter and took out a loaf of bread, advancing to the toaster to warm it up. He had no time for his usually large breakfast today, he wanted to get over to that school and start his new life! Now Wendy had not eaten bread that morning, finding mold growing on it, but poor Natsu unfortunately, in his agitated state, did not notice this acute detail.

Waiting for the bread to toast, he took out the milk carton, which was still slightly wet from when Wendy handled it, while noticing a small spill on the floor. _"She must have been in a hurry today,",_ he thought, with a little smile breaking tension of his face, _"Wendy never leaves a mess, especially when its_ _food-related, that's my domain."_ He poured the milk in a glass and took a big gulp as heard the ring of the toaster, grabbing the slices out of the metallic gray machine he gobbled them up and started munching on the wheat pieces. _"This bread tastes different than usual."_ he thought, chewing heartily, when suddenly-SQUISH! Natsu paused, that was not a sound he was expecting from _bread_ ; puzzled, Natsu spit it back out onto the plate, where the image of mushy bread mixed with something that looked like black goo made his brain melt.

"YUUKK, I ALMOST SWALLOWED FUCKING MOLD!"

The pitiable boy retched and hacked and coughed, virtually traumatized from his ordeal, as he washed out his mouth with cup after cup of water and grabbed tongue, rubbing it as if the blight on his mouth could be scrubbed off. He then groaned with chagrin, because he knew that he had no time to go back and brush. Improvising Natsu grabbed a pack of fruit-flavored gum, hoping it would work as advertised. He checked the time-7:55-, he had to be at school by 8:00! He swiftly went to the closet, taking out his black bag, as well as his shoes, he also packed his extra pair of nunchucks, you never could be too careful (him and Wendy didn't believe in wearing shoes inside a home, probably inherited from their shared ancestry). Chewing on the gum gave him a refreshing, almost tangible aura in his mouth, he sat down in front of the door, just as Wendy had done an hour earlier, and laced up his shoes. As he went though his intrinsic routine, apprehension slowly grew in Natsu's subconscious, as it realized that its human would soon be heading to his first day of school!

Natsu stood up, having tied his laces, and looked back at the apartment, noticing nothing off. Shutting the door, he quickly clicked the key into place and turned it until he heard the satisfying CLINK of the lock. Smiling, Natsu put one hand in his pocket and the other in his hair as he descended the stairs, whistling an esoteric tune as he went.


	6. Ebullient Occurence

**I just wanted to thank fanficlove2014 and compucles for reviewing, the rest were anonymous, but I thank them as well as well as anyone who viewed.**

Ebullient Occurence

Splish splash the puddle on the road went. It was currently inert, having found itself falling from heaven before it could even comprehend its own plight, oh well. Rain was meant to fall, just as flowers are meant to bloom, just as winter is meant to supersede summer. The puddle was formed after a flurry of water droplets inundated a hapless dent in the road, filling it up quite efficiently in terms of time. The puddle, a symbol of the cyclic pleasures of a ceaseless life, was feeling wrought with blasé; the dull beginnings to the day were taking their toll, and the ephemeral cloud-filled sky gave way to the perpetual, piercing stare of the rising sun. It would soon be dried up, dead, never again to lay on that exact spot, in the middle of a road contiguous to a familiar apartment building. While the puddle was a microcosm of egalitarian society, its incessant system of mosquitoes and motley of leaves filled with thousands of tiny organisms could attest to that, it was not enough to satiate the puddle's desire to be moved, to be stepped upon, to be rolled or even driven upon. It had been a slow morning, filled with cordial cars who refused to stray and benign bikes who kept to the sidewalk like they should, no mavericks were steering them today. The puddle wanted something more out of its short but meaningful life, it did not know what, but it wanted _something_ , maybe to be stirred up; it would even settle for the cool, exciting feel of a human's shoes as they walked across a small body of water, trying to quell the inner child in them as they got their feet wet, failing to resist in the jejune pull of a simple puddle.

Out of nowhere came a furor of footsteps, imperceptibly getting closer and closer, as the puddle's lethargy soon turned into anticipation for enterprise, at first not believing that its wish would be granted so soon. SPLASH! Its dreams were fulfilled as the puddle flew up in a million droplets, each destined to land anywhere but back in that wretched pothole, as the puddle could finally feel elation for the first time that morning. While still in the air it peered down it's line of sight, hoping to catch a glimpse of its timely savior, and was promptly surprised at the pink hair his head subsumed.

The incognizant _savior_ , was a boy who happened to be in a state of great haste, the time was 7:57, and he did not want to be late on this day. The boy, named Natsu, reached the end of his apartment complex, crashing open the gate (earning a earful from the watchmen in the process), and hurried down the outset of Apple Lane, which he knew culminated with Magnolia High School. He made it outside the gate, where he glimpsed his surroundings.

Natsu paused for a second to take in the placid sight, he was standing on the other side of the complex's gate, hand resting on the 9 foot wall that separated it from the beautiful town outside. He really wished he would get to take in the town's sites on his walk to school, but knew he had no time for that as he really would prefer _not_ to be late. He took off, feet splashing in more recently formed puddles (also gratifying their dreams of adventure!), up the sidewalk, intent on letting nothing mislead him on his way, when he passed by the entrance to the alley between his complex and the adjoining one. He would have kept running, but the heightened shout of "GET AWAY FROM ME!", stopped him in his tracks. He turned.

Natsu peered into the depths of the alley, its occult nature seemed to warp the reality of the weather, turning day into night, as well as having a putrid smell that made him want to clog his nose with a muffler, while its shadows crawled forth indefatigably only to be vaporized like a vampire when they were probed by the illuminating rays of the sun. For a moment Natsu thought he imagined the shout for help, that it was a chimera, a dream, but then he heard a scuffle of feet, as well as a soft whimper that was carried all the way out of the alleyway by the acoustics of the vicinity. Natsu growled in anger while he propped his right foot up on a wooden crate resting on the side of one of the brick walls, and laced up his shoe with more incisiveness than he had done before. He had a feeling that he would be interrupting a dangerous confrontation of some sort.

He started along the edge of the wall, blending into the darkness as he had on so many previous occasions. It was not just skill that allowed him to move almost as if he were intangible, but an art. The ability to adapt your body to your surroundings, no matter where you were, was not accomplished just by arduous practice, but also by inheriting innate finesse and proficiency in said art. Natsu kept one had sliding against the rough texture of the right wall, so he would not stray too far from it. The alley stretched like a labyrinth, diverging into two paths at an intersection about 100 yards in, so he took the one where the smell of fear was coming from; it was almost tactile, the guttural of the voice, the erratic nature of the breathing, even the desperate scratching of the wall.

The second alleyway expanded in front of Natsu like a road, to which he guessed was a dead end. It had puddles of water strewn across its floor, almost creating a plashet of murky waters. The sun had predictably not breached this bastion of obscenity yet, causing the water to stay put. Natsu cursed as he pussyfooted along the side of the alley, _"There go my shoes, and my new socks."_ he thought irritably. He went further down the lane, darkness enveloping him, until he reached the periphery of a luminous elliptical, when he realized that the dead end was not so much a dead end as it was the tailpiece of a bar. The light was coming from the half-open door that was adorned by three steps, leading down to the grimy floor of the alley.

Standing on the fringe of the darkness he observed what had been setting off a tingle in his head for the last few minutes. There he could see a tall man with very dark, almost bluish hair, standing with a devious leer on his face, his forehead adorned by a strange horizontal 'X' tattoo, almost like an infinity symbol. The object of his leering was a cowering boy, hiding behind an empty beer barrel, with what Natsu could make out as light blue hair and peach-white colored skin. He was very small, not even above 5 feet, almost a foot shorter than the nefarious man (he was well over 6 feet) who was obviously the cause of his timorous state. Natsu himself was only 5"8' and a half, so he could understand why the small boy was so obviously scared. Even though there were people in the bar behind them, there were not nearly enough during these hours to take any notice to the two people locked in a one-sided stare down outside. The taller one then spoke with narrowed eyes and a stern, almost possessed voice, "I'll ask you again you little bitch, give it to me _now_ , or I really won't hold back this time."

"NO! How many times do I have to say it, I'm not gonna give it to the likes of you!" Natsu was moved by the surprising courage of the boy, as he was still undoubtedly frightened. He decided to wait and observe the situation before making his move, he didn't very well want to expose his secrets to a stranger. The right information in the wrong hands often lead to precarious situations for everyone involved.

"If you're not going to hand it over, I might as well _take_ it from YOU!" the blue-haired man shouted the last word as he took out what looked to Natsu like a decent-sized pocketknife and lunged towards the unarmed boy. Time slowed down for Natsu, it was now or never. Unbeknownst to him, his pupils turned red. He readied himself in his practiced stance of the external style and exploded forward out of the shadows and into the air, pushing off from his back foot , as he landed vertically on the wall, feet first, above where the small boy was pushing himself up against it with his eyes closed, like he wanted nothing more than to just melt into it. As Natsu's feet touched the wall, he bent his knees and pushed off at a downwards angle, feeling the wind buffet his face, and whistle against his ear, as he spun towards the assailant while making a half opened knuckle-fist with his left hand, his feet hit the floor and Natsu used the new found momentum to promptly hit the man in the stomach with pinpoint precision, causing spit to fly out of his mouth. Faster than the attacker could double over in pain, Natsu had formed another fist with his right hand while only lifting its index finger's knuckle, and followed up the first blow with this second one, directed towards the man's temple where the pressurized point hit home, leaving a slight dent in his forehead. The rapid 2-hit combo was all that was needed to knock out the man, who had never really stood much of a chance at all. He cried out in pain as he fell backwards, "UUUGGH!", but not before catching an evanescent glimpse of pink, _"I must be dreaming"_ he thought tediously as the effects of the blows began to take their poisonous effect, and slowly his eyes closed of their own accord, transporting his consciousness to nothingness.

Natsu stared at the man he had just so unceremoniously took out, and, while his eyes turned back from being red, started to finger his scarf; it was a meditative mechanism that he did whenever he found his body too full of adrenaline. Often he would find that his personality was slightly different when he was fighting, more aggressive, more brutal, no matter how short the fight was (as in this case!). He took deep breaths, and soothed his mind with serene thoughts, like Wendy and him napping together after watching tv or a trip to a palmy beach. Once he came down from his high, he staggered backwards and slumped down wearily against the wall, coincidentally right next to the boy he had just saved, who surprisingly smelled like smoked fish. The boy seemed too stupefied to talk just yet, his mouth agape in an 'O' shape, as he seemed unable to form coherent words, licking his lips like Natsu was a dream that the he did not deserve to have. He had not seen Natsu take the man down, his eyes being shut with fright at the time, but could guess that Natsu had taken him out very quickly and efficiently. He decided to keep quiet on just how Natsu was able to do that for now, after all he had just saved his life possibly. With a deeeeep breath the boy's shock seemed to lessen, if only a little, and he shifted his gaze towards the floor as if he was ashamed.

"Th, thank you, I-I don't know what would have happened if you hadn't come just now" the boy mumbled, shifting his countenance up once only to turn it back down when he realized Natsu's eyes were still on him. Natsu realized that it must have all been very appalling to the boy, after all he was just about the be brutally attacked when out of nowhere his assaulter had been defeated by an ungodly whirl of movements, slumping over in a matter of seconds. Natsu gave a tired smile and softened his eyes towards the boy.

"You're very welcome, I couldn't just let someone get hurt right in front of me. Who was that dude anyway?"

The boy shifted his gaze towards Natsu again, and was a little assured by his smile, "U-um well, I think his name is Bora and he goes to my schoo-"

"Wait, WHAT!" Natsu interrupted, flabbergasted "That guy and _you_ go the same school? Was he held back like 50 years or something?"

At this the boy actually stole a grin before going back to his usual apprehensive look, "Well, I'm actually not around the same age as him, but we both go to Magnolia High School... I'm, a little ahead in academics." he finished shyly, afraid he would be judged.

Natsu raised his eyebrows, "A little? Just how old are you?" There was no way that this kid who looked no more than 10 could be in high school.

"Well I'm 9, but my birthday is near the end of winter."

"How is it possible that you go to high school?"

The boy took a deep breath, as if he were about to narrate a novel, "Well, when I was younger my parents were really hard on me, they consistently pushed me to be better and better in school, and because of that I was able to test into the higher grades, eventually jumping about 5 years. I would have actually jumped even more grades if not for an incident." the boy's face now turned gaunt with the horror of a past memory, "Around 3 years ago, things started to pile up; I was getting bullied at school, my parents continued to push me, and I just couldn't cope with it well enough. Around that time, I was studying one night, when it became really hard for me to breath, and I lost control of my motor-movement skills. Turns out I had a Febrile seizure, probably from all the stress I was putting my body through, and had to be taken to the emergency room. The doctors there told my parents that it was extremely unhealthy for anyone to be put under that much stress, especially if they were a kid. But," and now the boy had a small smile on his face, "I did get a rest in my life from that point on, and my parents were devastated because they thought it was all their fault. They stopped pushing me so hard and instead started treating me with a lot more compassion." he finished, his gaze turning back to look out at the expanse of the alleyway.

Natsu took a minute to process and construe everything he had just heard. Obviously the boy was some sort of genius; he had never heard of anyone skipping that many grades. Natsu himself was moderately good at school, he supposed if he had ever had any friends then maybe his grades would have suffered a bit, but he unfortunately did _not_ have that problem. He would trade all the A plusses in the world for just one friend. Dispirited, he checked his watch- 8:08. Natsu sighed dejectedly, _"there goes impressing the teacher on my first day."_ He turned back to the boy, noticing he was wearing a red shirt with black shorts, his feet sporting sandals. There were no visible injuries on him, meaning Natsu had intervened at the right moment. "That's quite a story, but at least your life is better now than it was before." he said reassuringly.

"Yeah I guess it is, but I still got bullied a lot at school because of my size and my age."

"Well, point the bullies out to me and I'll see what I can do for you" Natsu said cheekily, a grin covering his face.

"Actually, it has been better this year so far, a friend who is a junior has been keeping them mostly away, but" and he motioned at the incapacitated Bora, "she can't stop situations like this." Natsu nodded in agreement, it was impossible for anyone to know about circumstances such as these; the boy had gotten lucky, one more minute and he might have been on his way to the emergency again.

"Were you on your way to school?" Natsu inquired.

"Yeah, I live within walking distance, so most days I end up walking."

Natsu peered across the damp alley, "So I guess we'll both be late to school today huh, I'm Natsu by the way."

"Very nice to meet you Natsu, and thank you sooo much again for your help." the boy started with shining eyes, but then his face transformed from a look of wonder into a bemused expression, "Wait, what do you mean we're gonna be late? School doesn't start until 8:30."

Natsu looked dumbfounded, _"hadn't the syllabus said 8:00."_ he thought, while new energy surged through his soul; he still had a chance to start the day out on the right foot! He jumped up, while also pulling the boy to his feet. Before he could shout in glee, the boy tugged on the sleeve of his shirt, while indicating to Bora unconscious on the ground with his other hand, "He's not _dead_ right?"

Natsu chuckled, "No, he's just knocked out, he'll wake up in an hour or so." of course he wasn't dead, he had purposefully held back. Natsu had not put enough power into the blows to give Bora internal bleeding, but the high school student would be waking up with a concussion, and a _very_ sore stomach.

Unable to hold it in any longer Natsu shouted, "COME ON! This means we still have a chance to get to school on time!" This was perfect, now he could enjoy the beauty of the town while he walked to school with the boy he had just saved. He started running out of the alleyway, feet splashing in the water puddles, oblivious to the cries of "WAIT UP!"

The alley did not seem as dark or forbidding as it had before, the sun was now rightfully perched in its eternal place in the sky, and seemed to lighten up the previously somber lane. Natsu skidded to a halt, finally outside that Medusa's lair, and started breathing in the fresh air that always seems to come out after it stops raining, as if he was curing his lungs from inhaling adulterated air. He smelled the sweet honey of Magnolia flowers, their odor wafting in the light breeze that ruffled his hair, as he stood there, waiting for his companion to catch up.

Said companion came a minute later, huffing as he went, "You sure do run fast." he was bent over hands on his knees, his brown bag looking bigger than him. Wordlessly, Natsu pitied him and took the bag, slinging it on his back. "Th-thanks, but you really don't have to-"

"I'd be happy to, this thing looks like its pretty heavy anyway."

"If you're sure, then I guess its alright." the boy smiled freely for the first time since he had encountered Natsu.

They began walking towards the school, not too quickly since they knew they had time. As they went Natsu raised a doubt of his that had been eating away at his consciousness ever since he stumbled upon Bora and the boy, "Now, that we're out of that alley, what was that guy after you for anyway, didn't seem like regular bullying to me?"

For some reason the boy blushed, but not ashamedly, instead with the air of a child who was exposed to too many malapropos things at too young an age, he started intertwining his hands together, "Weeell, its about a friend I have, the same one who was protecting me from bullies at school actually," Natsu nodded for him to go on, "well the thing is, Bora wanted me to give him her number and address but he wouldn't tell me why and he had a really nasty look on his face when he said it." The poor child looked like he knew what that look meant, but was too embarrassed to dictate it to Natsu, who understood immediately. "She's the nicest person I've ever met and actually cares about a little kid like me, I wasn't about to betray her."

Anger clouded Natsu's usually happy countenance, "People like him really disgust me thinking they can do whatever they want, whenever they want." he did not go into detail because of the little boy's extreme mortification. Natsu was boiling with rage, and was also a little disturbed. What kind of human being would attack a child for a phone number, with which they were probably not planning innocent things? Wanting to turn the conversation away from something so distasteful, he began to ask the boy what grade he was in and what type of courses he took.

While said boy talked, Natsu was also glancing around the town, taking in everything it had to offer. They were currently heading for the center of the city square and were passing through the market area. Shops and stands of all shapes, sizes, and types seemed to spring upon them at every other turn. People were bustling about, going about their morning business; the combination of them and the vendors created a cocaphany of bartering and dealing, yet still it added a festive quality to the place. Natsu saw a coffee shop that looked like it might be a peaceful place to hang out. Of course it was adorned by peddlers peddling their wares, but on the whole seemed quite tranquil to the passing eye. Natsu then switched his gaze towards the other side of the street, for they were walking on the right-sided walkway of the 2-lane road, and glimpsed a book store as well as fast-food place among other establishments. His surroundings gave Natsu a feeling that Magnolia was very cosmopolitan.

On they walked, and Natsu noticed acute details of the strident street. The road was not made out of gravel, but brick instead, in a sort of Neo-Victorian style, and many of the shops on either side of them had glass windows upon their whole front, as if inviting all passerby into every part of their store. He and the boy started to make their way past many of the shops, heading towards the city square. As they passed, people eyed Natsu's hair, frowns on their faces, but he payed them no notice; he was used to it.

Upon arriving at the square, Natsu's breath was taken away, it was a circle-bend road, surrounding a magnificent fountain bedecked with sculptures of a numerous number of mythical creatures, all funneling water back into the fountain. The road was surrounded by walkways all around, creating an outer perimeter, which is where Natsu and the boy were walking. To their right was a construction crew who were giving a new paint job to one of the buildings. All around them were extravagant restaurants and ornate clubs, their atmosphere of festivity only impregnated by the pious tone of the Caldia Cathedral, the oldest building in Magnolia. It had a castle-like spire top, which was situated above the golden, grand arch entrance, and on either side of it were two huge domes, each decorated just as beautifully as the other, creating an image of perfect symmetry. It was a truly breathtaking site, Natsu actually found himself pausing for a minute, right in front of the entrance, in awe of the cathedral's splendor, reminding himself to visit the inside sometime as his head started hurting from craning his neck upwards towards the top of the cathedral. He had to be dragged away by the boy, who had seen it many times before, but who was not immune the first time he had witnessed it either.

The square was quite a pleasant experience for Natsu, who was now very grateful that school started 30 minutes later than he had previously thought. They walked out of that splendid area, and back onto the main street, which was supposed to climax with the school. While they were walking the boy checked his watch and stopped the two of them where they were in their tracks, underneath the overarching scaffolding of the construction crew, while visibly jumping, "I'm sorry, but I gotta go, I've got an appointment with my counselor at 8:20, and I can't miss it. Hope you have a good day at school."

He smiled apologetically and was about to hurry on ahead, when Natsu pulled him back, realizing something important, "Hey, you never actually told me your name." The boy looked shocked, seeming to become aware of the same thing. He opened his mouth, about to answer when- SPLAT! One of the buckets of paint that was being used by the crew, spilled, all over Natsu!

The still unnamed boy was trying hard not to laugh out of respect, while he took his bag back from Natsu before pulling out a red hoodie and handing it to the now splattered and wet boy. Still lightly giggling, he finally answered, "My name is Yuusuke, but nobody calls me that except my parents, so call me Happy instead!" he requested before smiling, "See you later Natsu, I really hope we can be friends." he finished and raced off, intent on getting to his appointment on time.

Natsu was slightly stunned, not expecting to make a friend this fast on his first day, but soon beamed nonetheless; he might have only been a kid, but had shown Natsu more kindness than he had experienced in a long time from anyone besides Wendy. Still smiling, he started walking, putting on the red hoodie while he did so, musing blithely over his new friend, Happy, as he spotted the top spire of the high school on the horizon.

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 **If any of you think Happy's real name should be anything different, leave a review, and if I like it I'll update and change it to that. As for the diction in this chapter, its a little subconscious on my part; studying vocabulary for 5 hours a day for two weeks will have that effect on you and I enjoy using different words, so sorry if it upsets anyone. Also if anyone is interested in the device I used with the puddle, it is called an apostrophe. This is an update, I got a tip to change Natsu's height.**

 **I own nothing.**


	7. Ephemeral Calm

**Sorry for the short chapter, but mixing this with the next part would not flow as well. The next chapter should be released today or tomorrow. I just wanted to thank anyone who viewed/reviewed, because the last chapter caused this story to have over a 1000 views! Also I read a comment against a rape scene? I do not think that I will write one, as its not really aligned with the motif of this story. In addition, I especially thank anyone who reviewed, because I have over 50 now! There was a helpful one on Natsu's height so I fixed it. As for the first paragraph in this chapter, some of you might find it a bore, but I really could not help myself. If anyone is getting tired of Natsu's pov yet, rest assured that it will only last until the end of the school day, and then it will probably switch back to Lucy for then. Also if anyone is interested I employed anticlimax in the beginning. Also if anyone has helpful tips or criticisms, leave a review, as I usually re-update a chapter if I find anything wrong with it.**

 **I own nothing.**

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Ephemeral Calm

The sun; a very regal and perdurable symbol of the insignificance of humans in face of its glory, a fiery orange of destruction and desolation, a Brobdingnagian being that was waiting to reap despondence and sorrow upon all denizens of terra firma, who were heedless of a threat that was invisible only through its own affability, appearing as though it was a paragon of candor whilst remaining secretly duplicitous. The great ball was an apotheosis of ethereal divinity that beguiled anyone who gazed upon it with a false sense of security, as if it were a monster that did _not_ pine for the flesh of halcyon beings, conjuring up phantasms of tranquility and joy in those who should be shaking in trepidation, for the corollary of the sun would inescapably be to suffer upon the indwellers of the world a vehement attack if there ever was one. It was intrinsic to the nature of all stars, those arcane and seemingly magical bodies of light, playing god and reaper over the course of time, as if in some adulterated thespian play. It was one that would seize the collective breath of the world, have it enraptured with the beauty of mass extirpation. They would be introspective, even calm at this moment of portending doom, for who knew that their guardian was also their harbinger, their Apollyon? They would wonder how carnage could be so beautiful, a communal paradox that not even an Oracle could riddle. The undying question of the ages, never again to be debated. If one squinted, they could almost _see_ the dancing and ebullient waves of fire and magma on the surface of the sun, frolicking without a care, a single one of which could blanket the world a dozen times over.

Alas, eradication is yet to be upon us, that apocalypse would have to wait for the future. All the sun could muster to wreak now was to beam its rays into the callow and unsuspecting eyes of Natsu Dragneel. At first they did not notice, as light travels impetuously, but eventually succumbed to the odd mixture of warmth and burning, and Natsu fluttered his eyes irritably, and groaned. The familiar sensation of spots clouded his sight, as he blinked rapidly, intent on seeing normally again. The unsuspecting boy had been trying to get a better look at the school as he walked, craning his neck with serpentine grace as if he were an ostrich, but found the sun obdurately against him regarding _that_ matter. _"Crap!"_ he thought, still blinking, he had really wanted to take a picture of the school from distance, but he could not now seeing as the interference from the sun would ruin any attempt he made.

After Happy had rushed off from where they were standing outside the town square, Natsu had started to trudge upwards along the brick road, for there was an incline in the terrain maybe 700 yards before the school. He had caught a fleeting glimpse of a spire and found that his heart very much desired to unveil the curtain and really _see_ the school for the first time. However his toils of squinting were not lauded with truth but with an acrid pain instead. In an ephemeral fit of delirium he found himself subliminally cursing the sun, but quickly curtailed those thoughts from his head; it was a symbol of life, not death (he was not misguided about the sun tho!).

Natsu's back was slightly bent forward as he continued to walk, like most humans' backs will become when walking up a slope. The state of his body forced his eyes left and right from boredom, and he listlessly observed everything around him was barren, not a single establishment vended here, as if discouraging students from breaks on their way to school; it was understandable. Aside from no shops, there were no cars going up and down on the hill either, which Natsu thought odd, but not impossible. He would have liked for something besides the gentle breeze to hold his attention, but that was all he could extort from nature right now. He noticed that with the light zephyrs sometimes came leaves in ones, twos, and even threes. Many trees around him were already beginning to look wretched, like an old witch. Their slanted and tortuous branches open for the world to judge, no longer retaining their veil of leaves. _"That's weird"_ Natsu thought, _"autumn doesn't usually happen this quickly."_ He was indeed unaware of the peculiar climate of Magnolia, being situated in the north of the continent, the seasons rolled with much more variance than elsewhere.

Finally, Natsu had made it to the top of the hill, and, checking his watch, noted that he still had time to spare. His enrollment syllabus had explained to him in detail that he would be getting a tour of the school for a few minutes by the principle before starting his year in class. Natsu was very eager to get there and learn about the school, as it would be his second haven for the next two years. He started his downwards incline, still pondering lightly about school, when he sighted said school.

To him it looked more like a grand basilica than a school.

For the second time that day he found his heart truly and exquisitely enamored, so filled with appreciation that he did not believe it himself at first. Though he was prone to erratic and often violent tendencies, such as destroying anything tangible, he often found himself allured by the victim of his devastation. Natsu had once covertly waited 3 hours for Wendy to finish a castle made out of playing cards. With full intentions to swat away with no mercy for the poor cards, he could not help admiring their beauty, even after they had been reduced to a pile of rubbish. He was like an arsonist who picked flowers before setting a forest on fire. The boy felt just as beguiled and captivated now, within the the awe-inspiring range of the school. _"No wonder so may kids go here, it's huge!"_ (5763 to be exact!)

The school was indeed an archaic basilica, with imperious, sand-brown walls resembling precipices surrounding it on all four sides, with what Natsu presumed to be some sort of courtyard beyond the walls before the _real_ entrance of the building. There was a huge , grey obelisk in front of the high walls, reaching a respectable height; Natsu actually took a picture of this. It was in the middle of a stone road that led beyond the walls, where the boy could make out four different domes connecting to the main edifice, each a different color and ornamented uniquely. He guessed that each one housed some sort of classroom. To complete the black-and-white symmetry, there was a huge golden-plated rotunda in the middle of all that noise, looking like a bovine dome itself, it owned a spire at its very top that looked as if it yearned to reach the heavens but had given up when its architect died. Preceding that act, there was a huge arch that all students could pass through on their way to the school, that was made out of limestone and marble, and Natsu's neck pained when he peered at its very top while passing through it. He could make out ornately carved sculptures, connected to the underside of the arch; gargoyles and goblins peered back down at him. Natsu shook his head with disbelief; a school so magnificent should not even _be_ a school. He passed a board that said Magnolia High on it; it was the only modern-looking thing in the vista, an anachronism if there ever was one.

Slowly but surely the ever-increasingly-impressed boy ambled still upon the stone road, heeding some other students who were emulating him. They paid him no mind, sparing a cursory glance before getting turned off and looking away again, their interest curbed by the lack of an identifier they could attach to him. It was understandable, the red hoodie Happy had given him covered most of his face; one would have to peer closely before glimpsing the painting of his countenance, and Natsu would rather face quick ridicule for hiding his features than long ridicule for being covered in paint.

As Natsu got closer and closer he could not help but fear what he might find inside; would this experience be as bad as the rest, or would he actually find placidity this time? His steps gradually slowed, until his pace was that of drying paint, anticipation and perturbation hazed his mind, his very being. He paused for a minute in front of the giant brown doors leading to the courtyard. After letting out a breath he had contained for 2 minutes, he calmed somewhat and slipped inside, past the huge doors that were slightly ajar for students, intent on meeting this _threat_ head on.

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 **I wonder if any of you can guess my gender from the way I write?**


	8. Reality

**Sorry about the way the last chapter was written, it was originally not supposed to be that. I had writer's block for how I wanted to introduce the chapter, but then I had an epiphany. The introduction I came up with ran a little longer than planned though, so I just made it into a whole chapter. As for the diction in that chapter, I really could not help it, it's just sooooooo addicting to write that style, and once I started I could _not_ stop. I think I'm still overloaded from the SAT. Anyway thanks to anyone who ****reviewed or viewed, the story got almost 500 views from last chapter alone!**

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Reality

If the exterior of the school was Heaven, then the interior was Pandemonium. _"What, the, hell?"_ Natsu thought unexpectedly. The school had deceiving skin; here he had thought that the inside would reflect the peaceful state that it was so _obviously_ trying to emanate from the outside, what with the _spires_ and the _domes_ and the _colors_ , not to mention the stunning arch. But no, it was all a clever guise, as soon as Natsu had entered through the door, his mind surprisingly calm, the first thing he heard was the brusque sound that often results when too many people are trying to play too many songs at the same time. Pop blended with country, which blended with who-knows-what to form something new altogether. The music was originating from the many people strewn about the courtyard, ruining its historical significance with their raucous and convivial atmosphere.

Natsu had known beforehand that it was a big school, but he had not anticipated _this_ many people to go there. _"You'd think people wouldn't want to be late to class"_ he thought discontentedly, there were only 5 minutes till the bell, but nobody seemed to be aware that they would soon have to leave. Many of them could be observed sitting at a fountain in the middle of the courtyard. Just by looking at them Natsu could make out that they were popular. Boys and girls intermingled in their group, slurping on coffee and munching on pastries. Looking around in interest now, he could almost see the the lines separating the myriad groups around him, the class distinctions of high school hierarchy all too visible.

To his left, sitting on some steps, was a group of kids scrambling to finish what looked to be last night's homework; papers were exchanged, notes were copied down, and strange jokes were made. No music came from that group. Farther on, there were some kids who looked like they had been through a coal mine, wearing nearly all black, and were responsible for a modest share of the music. To their right Natsu observed a crowd of students who were all huge, even in comparison to Bora. A few of them were tossing a football, indicating their identity. Looking like they wanted nothing more than to pop that football, but were unsure of the consequences was a group of menacing looking kids, most with pointed faces and all sporting skateboards. Mingling with them in some sort of symbiotic orgy was yet another group, most of whom Natsu noted had a dazed look in their eyes. _"If those kids aren't high right now then I'll rip my scarf in half."_ he thought with a slight chuckle and started to make his way to the entrance of the school. Littered across the area were many smaller, younger-looking kids, reminding Natsu of Happy. They mulled about, looking a bit intimidated by the bigger folk all around them, afraid to make an unwanted mistake.

Of course Natsu had processed all of this information in a little under a minute, the boy liked to absorb his surroundings whenever he was in a new place, just as a precaution; old habits often die hard. As Natsu got closer to the huge pillars adjacent to the entrance, he was not ogled at as he was accustomed to, instead, just as the students he had encountered outside, they spared him an uninterested glance, as their mind recognized something foreign, but soon turned away again, back to their lives. Natsu was ecstatic, he did not really appreciate the disapproving looks and stares he received whenever he was in public. People either labeled him as a firebrand or a combative individual. _"I kick ass, but I'm not violent"_ he thought with umbrage, face morphing with annoyance; he recalled a particularly nasty occasion when he had offered to carry an old lady's grocery bags, but, instead of receiving a warm thank you for his troubles, he had gotten a whack on the head and a chastisement from a security officer, not the best incentive to be helpful to strangers.

Finally he arrived in front of the pillars, happier than he had been a while after a walk in public. He passed underneath the facade of the building that was held up by the massive pillars. About to enter the school for the first time, Natsu flashed a look at a lacrosse stick. He turned around expectantly, elated to see Wendy- but it wasn't her. It was a group of girls, all who had the symbolic sticks saddled to their bags, along with a duffle bag of some sort. They were idly chatting, some sitting, some standing, some with earbuds, some with homework. It was by far the most eclectic group he had observed so far, the rest had had a sort of unspoken uniformity about them, but this group of girls was interesting. The only thing that they seemed to have in common was that they _all_ had strange colored hair, except for one. Natsu saw red, white, purple, blue, you name it. _"Those must be some of Wendy's friends"_ he guessed, eyes lingering on the only with blonde hair, he could not examine her face however, as the area was quite shadowed.

He could meet them later he decided, right now he had a school that needed touring. The ever-helpful syllabus had told him that to start the day he would have to introduce himself to the principal of the school. Natsu pulled open the door, not knowing what he would find as the door was _not_ made out of glass. He gasped, the lobby was almost as big as the courtyard, with spiraling steps cascading to the upper floors as well as the lower ones. The receptionist's desk was off to the side, while the rest of the lobby opened up to a great expanse which Natsu could only guess was the main hallway of the school. The inside did not look like the expected interior of an old basilica; there was tile floor instead of stone, plastered walls instead of marble. _"Some major renovating must have been done to this place"_ Natsu pondered thoughtfully as he strolled over to the receptionist who was typing away on her computer.

He approached her carefully, not wanting to be a bother as she was obviously working. Natsu waited patiently; still she showed no reaction, prompting him to grunt a bit. The receptionist stopped typing and looked up with a stern face, which immediately morphed into a smile once she realized it was a student. She peered closer as she could not initially see his face due to the hoodie, "Hello, what can I help you with young man?"

Natsu rubbed his neck shyly, "Yeah hi, um, I'm new here and was told that the principal would be giving me a tour of the school, could you please point out to me where he might be?"

The receptionist pondered for a moment, a fist under her chin, then with a triumphant voice said, "Oh! I know where he is! Make your way down the main hall and head towards the third hall on your right, you'll see him there taking down posters."

"Really!? Thanks a lot!" Natsu grinned, and bolted away from the desk, as his hands flew to hold the straps of his bag so he could move faster. While he was talking to the receptionist the bell had rung, but Natsu had not noticed as he was too preoccupied with trying to catch her attention. It came as a shock to him, therefore, when he found the hall empty. Sure there were a few kids milling about, but they all were holding what suspiciously looked like hall-passes. He slowed his pace when he realized that there was not a reason to hurry and put his hands back in the pocket of the hoodie, which was surprisingly snug. Happy had been really kind to offer it to him out of the blue; Natsu had not identified him as munificent when he first saw him.

As he walked, he saw an aberration, two students _without_ a hall-pass; to the average human it might not have seemed too troubling, but Natsu had trained for many years to observe his surroundings, taking note of any deviation. One of the two had orange hair and tinted shades, along with a swagger in his jaunt, the other had dark red, almost brownish hair and a disconcerting grin on his face. It was obvious that the orange-haired boy was the superior one, what with the way he carried himself. Natsu bowed his head, not wanting to draw unwanted attention on his first day at school, because those two looked like trouble. He tried not to listen to them, but ended up hearing snippets of their conversation.

-"At least be grateful that your girlfriend's never gotten a boy as her partner"-

-"I'm surprised you've been able to keep this up for so long"-

-"She'd never suspect the only reason I act like a gentleman is to get her pussy"-

That last comment made Natsu stop and turn back to look at the two boys, as they had just passed him. _"What did he just say? Did I hear that right? He's putting up a charade in front of his girlfriend?"_ As much as these revelations disturbed him, he knew there was not much he could do. He had not even gone to his first class and _really_ , it was not technically his business; he didn't know anyone besides Wendy and Happy yet. Natsu just hoped that whoever the poor girl was that had that heathen as a boyfriend found out soon about his drama.

Shaking his head to rid himself of disgust, he turned into the hallway just like he was instructed and heard someone shouting.

"DAMN KIDS! Always putting up useless posters! Who in their right mind has time for _cooking_ club? I swear these kids need to focus more on their academics, or they'll all be homeless!" Natsu felt a sense of anticlimax, he had expected such a loud voice to belong to a large person.

Still, he gulped, the man shouting with such anger may have been very small, but he was surely intimidating. He had wiry, white hair, sticking out all over the place, as well as a stern looking face, wrinkles evidencing the constant stress that being a principal must have put him under throughout the years. The man's back was still turned, so Natsu spoke up. "E-excuse me, sir. I'm Natsu Dragneel, your supposed to give me a tour of the school today since I'm new here."

The principal sighed, his anger disappearing, and put down the poster in his hand, turning around, "Yes, I was expecting you Mr. Dragneel, or should I say Natsu. Come here and help me take down the last of these infernal posters and then we shall start your tour, I need to get this done. My name is Makarov Dreyar by the way, the principal of Magnolia High School."

Natsu was a little taken aback at the sudden change in demeanor of the man, but complied nonetheless, "Oh, sure thing sir, I'll have these posters down in no time!" He smiled proudly and proceeded to rip off two posters at a time with an almost frighteningly frantic pace, like he was mechanical, as he was _really_ looking forward to the tour. When he had finished in under 30 seconds and dumped all the trash in the bin at the end of the hall, Makarov gave him a curious glance, "Do you perhaps participate in any sports my boy?"

"No, why do you ask?"

Makarov played it off lightly with a noncommittal wave of the arm, "Oh, no reason, it's just that I've never seen anyone move that fast that's all."

Natsu chastised himself, he could not let his secret be found out with such nescience on his part, "Oh, thank you sir, but I was just really excited to start my tour. I have _never_ played any sports." he emphasized, hoping the man would get the message. While it was technically true, Natsu knew that was only so because what he did was not so much a sport as it was a lifestyle.

"Nevertheless, you should think about joining _some_ athletic team, you look like you have some natural talent."

"Maybe I will, thanks again." _"Ugh,"_ Natsu thought as faked a hopeful grin, _"why can't he just leave it?"_ The man was being friendly but Natsu thought that his indecisive body language was enough to give away that he was not really interested in sports.

"Well, enough chit-chat, we should start the tour," Makarov started, as he beckoned Natsu to follow him when he turned on his heel to head back down to the main hallway, "it should only take about 5 to 7 minutes, which means that I have to cover the essentials of the school quickly."

 _"Finally"_ Natsu thought with anticipation. He jogged lightly to catch up with the principal and came down to a walk when he had. "So sir, I had a question about this partner system that this school seems to have, the syllabus didn't explain it too well." As he asked the question, the twosome turned into the main hall, spread out like a wide river, so ample was its girth. Makarov pondered a moment before answering.

"Well, here at Magnolia we employ the use of the so called partners to promote social skills and cooperation among our students, the system is set up so that two students that are in the same grade are assigned to each other as academic partners for the year. After they are assigned, you will have all the same classes with each other and will also be encouraged to do all schoolwork together." Makarov insinuated, "This year there was a rule change actually, allowing you to keep your partners from last year if you both were in mutual agreement."

"Oh, that's interesting, and... do the people who are assigned to each other usually become close?" Natsu asked with a hopeful hint in his voice, eyebrows raised questioningly. He knew he could count on Wendy and now Happy, but another friend in his life would be _more_ than welcome.

Makarov however seemed to misunderstand the innocent boy's intentions, and he grinned slyly and wiggled his eyebrows, "Ah, I know _exactly_ what you mean my boy, don't worry, if your partner is a girl then there is a high chance that you will be romantically involved with her."

Natsu blushed slightly and put on an indignant look while grunting, "No sir, that was definitely _not_ what I meant, I only wanted to know if we would be friends."

"Suuure you did, don't worry, your secret is safe with me, and your in luck. Your class of eligible partners contains many nice and beautiful girls, there is a high possibility that you get a girl as your partner." Makarov cooed.

Natsu sighed exasperatedly, while Makarov guffawed to himself, wondering whether the old man was not a closet pervert. Harmless but crazy. While Makarov had been teasing Natsu, the tour had taken them round the back of the school, where Natsu saw the gym and auditorium as well as the pool and other facilities, but he could only catch glimpses as Makarov said that this tour was for location identifying purposes only. "If you want the full tour, ask your partner on Monday." he had offered. Makarov then explained to the disgruntled boy that the school had 4 floors; one basement and two floors above the main one that they were currently on. Each floor had 7 hallways each with about 7 to 10 classrooms. The halls were labeled by letters with a number that corresponded with the floor, while the rooms in each hall had their own numbering system. Natsu tried hard to process the rapid information, for Makarov had said that this tour would have to be quick. The two made their way back down the path of the main hall, towards the lobby. While walking, Makarov told Natsu to take out his schedule.

"Now check and tell me what your first period class is, I'll walk you there since it _is_ your first day and all; you will need introducing to your new class."

Natsu was a little sad that the tour was over, it had been enjoyable no matter how short, and, for all the principal's little idiosyncrasies, he had found himself very comfortable and at home in the small man's presence. He reached into his back pocket and pulled out the schedule, ruffling his head through the hoodie as he went. This seemed to pique Makarov's interest, as the old man remembered something he had forgotten through conversation. "Oh yes, sorry to intrude, but why are you covering your whole torso with that jacket, summer is not _yet_ done you know."

"You don't want to know." sighed Natsu, still feeling rather nauseous from all that paint that was sticking to him in places that _nothing_ should be touching. He peered down at the schedule in his hands, "My first period is Honors Biology by the way."

Makarov had gentle shock written on his face, "Oooh, you are an advanced student I see, that class is mainly only taken by seniors, very impressive. I would not have pegged you as one, no offense."

Natsu grinned as he realized the man was only being playful, "None taken. Can we get to class now please?" Makarov simply nodded and signaled Natsu to follow him as they _yet_ _again_ traversed the main hall, this time heading for the 2nd hallway, which was on the left. Makarov came to a stop in front of the sixth room in the hall, and reached up to put his hand on the door-handle, but did not yet push.

"So, before we go in, this is the biology lab that your class will be in. The teacher at my instruction is going to introduce you to the classroom, unless you prefer not to be." he added quickly when he saw the apprehensive look on Natsu's face.

"Would that be okay?" Natsu asked, "I really don't want to draw too much attention to myself on the first day." If there was anything he was afraid of, it was being judged before he even had a chance to make an impression on people. It had happened before and Natsu _always_ learned from his mistakes.

"Sure thing Natsu, I'll just have the teacher assign you to your seat and be on my way." Makarov smiled and pushed open the door, reckoning the already alert teacher over, and explaining to him Natsu's situation and to not introduce him to the class. The teacher simply smiled at the request and bade Natsu to sit in an empty seat that was in the middle row to the left of the room. Eyes followed him like a vulture follows its prey, but just like earlier, they became disinterested soon and turned back to the teacher or their own friends.

Turns out, Natsu was not that late, as the school had not even run its mandatory allegiance pledge to the country yet. He made himself comfortable in his seat and listened to the roll call. Some talking could be heard from outside the classroom, he turned cheerfully to glance at the newcomers who were later to class than him, only to become skittish-

It was the two evil boys from earlier.

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 **This is an update (thanks to Compucles who pointed it out to me), I was ignorant and kept spelling "principal" as principle; silly me.**


	9. First Impressions

**Thank you to anyone who viewed, this story got almost 2000 views. Also this chapter was originally part of a near 7000 word chapter, but I had to split it up due to the site glitching up. Expect the next chapter soon.**

First Impressions

 _"Uh oh"_ Natsu thought nervously, as he squirmed in his seat; sweat started to roll down the back of his head. He lowered his face into his scarf that was under the hoodie, eyeing the newcomers to the class wearily. He hoped that they did not recognize him, that their libidinous discussion outside had distracted them from the gaze of all passerby. They might not take kindly to having been overheard while talking about a rather sensitive topic, or at least one that they wished to remain covert.

Natsu's fears were amiss however, much to his obvious relief. The two students passed by the white board at the front of the class, carrying that same swagger he had witnessed previously in the hall. He could feel one of the boy's arrogant eyes quickly slide over his figure, but the benighted gaze soon tired and swung back to those of its friend beside it, too oblivious to recall the boy in the red hoodie. Normally, Natsu did not fear any _thing_ or any _one_ , but he did not trust the wicked look he had glimpsed in their eyes, calamity seemed to follow them like a heat-seeking missile. In addition, their letter-jackets gave away their high social standing; he had glimpsed the same uniform attire sported by most of the football players out in the courtyard. In the hierarchy that is high school, the football players were the equivalency of aristocrats, while Natsu, being a new kid, was nothing but a lowly peasant, meant to wallow away in penury his whole time there. He certainly did _not_ want to anger anybody of such status on his first day of school, he had sailed that route before and was in no hurry to re-experience the troubles of his past. In his introspective state he did not notice a third newcomer, a white haired adolescent, who sported the same attire as the first two.

"Aah, Loke, Dan, Galahad..late as usual I see" the teacher baited caustically. _"So those are their names, huh?"_ Natsu noted, quickly matching each one to its respective face. He identified Loke as the orange-haired one who had claimed to be successfully hoodwinking his girlfriend. Natsu scrunched up his eyebrows in disgust as the exact words Loke had used flashed through his mind once again. He still could not believe anyone their age would have that kind of mindset, but the world was a big place, allowing for its different environments, good and bad, to mold the young mind, using its plasticity to their advantage. A person evolved within themselves through their mindset and their outlook on life. Most, like Loke, were perverse and adulterated in their ways, be it lecherous or even gluttonous, but, there existed a few, Natsu being one of them, who still retained an ancient, yet laudable outlook, and they were the bravest, the noblest, and even the kindest of all, a rarity in modern society.

While the teacher was berating them, the three football players had simply smirked at him and made their merry way to the their respective seats. An invisible layer of protection hovered among and around them at all times, protecting them from the majority of the chastisement dealt by the average teacher. The teachers knew this all too well, and therefore did not really care if those boys were late to class. The one called Galahad sauntered over to a group of students who must have been his friends, while the other two settled themselves in the back.

The biology teacher looked like he wanted nothing more than to throw the lot of them into detention, but he knew his place; he knew that if he did anything along those lines, it would be _he_ that would suffer the consequences, not the students; a reverse trick-room. Naturally, he kept his mouth shut, and instead proceeded to simply scowl at the dilatory dogs, who seemed unfazed by the attention. The football players were not exactly the most well-renowned among the staff, stories of their exploits in-and-out of school often reaching the disapproving ears of many of the teachers. While most knew what atrocities they committed, there was never any proof, and without proof one cannot incriminate anyone, no matter how guilty they are.

The defeated teacher sighed and massaged his face with his hand, trying desperately to make the stress he was already feeling go away. Once he felt a little better, he launched into the day's lesson; it was already late enough. "Alright guys, today we're covering the numerous cell processes required to perform photosynthesis in plants. Now if you could please take out your notebooks, we will start by taking notes from the slideshow on the board." His assigned task was not picked up by many of the students. They were all seniors and were convinced they had better things to do than atrophy in biology class. Just as he was about the give up for the day and simply call for a study hour (which invariably always turned into an hour of nothingness) he noticed the new boy taking notes. The teacher recalled that he was a junior and that he was an advanced student; maybe there was hope for this class yet. As he thought that, Natsu's actions had a snowball effect and caused the people who glanced at him to feel guilty and start taking notes.

For the next hour, the hopeful teacher followed his lesson plan, and Natsu followed _him,_ causing some other students to as well. But that was okay, just seeing a few students absorb his information and learning something was enough for the poor teacher, it was more than the usual amount anyway. Towards the end of the class, he decided to jounce his lethargic students. He pretended to play off their nescience of the lesson as anticipation for the partners announcement clouding their minds and proceeded to tell them about the new rule change involving the system that year. All the students, save Natsu who already knew, visibly jumped, immediately plunging into conversations with the people in their vicinity, creating the effect of a cannonade. The teacher inwardly smiled; at least he had gotten them excited about _something._ Part of him did regret it though, as he spotted the look of annoyance lighting up Natsu's face, which was still trying to concentrate its eyes on the slideshow.

Just as the teacher had finished his disclosure, Natsu heard the bell toll its familiar tune, signaling the end of first period. With a grunt he heaved himself up and shuffled along with the rest of his classmates, no longer worried about the football trio; it was obvious how oblivious they were. Natsu knew he couldn't really talk, since Wendy had called him exactly that on more than one occasion, but theirs' was on an entirely different level.

Exiting the classroom, Natsu checked his schedule for the location of his next class, which happened to be all the way on the fourth floor. He was trudging up the steps, when, with a jolt, he realized that he had not even been to his locker yet. This was unusual for him, because he loved the many lockers he had had over his school career. They provided a haven for him to just pause for a second and relax between classes, as well as before and after school.

Regretting not checking out his locker, he made his way to his next period, which happened to be advanced calculus, but did not pay the environment of the class much heed, because he knew his whole schedule would be turned on its head come Monday. The calculus teacher, unlike the assiduous biology one Natsu noted, had entirely given up the task of trying to educate a class occupied mostly by seniors on a Friday, and simply said that they would be having a free day, as long as they were not too loud.

However, following the intrinsic nature of all classrooms, the students started out quietly but gradually appreciated the sound level of the room, with the teacher of course taking no notice. Natsu put his head down and plugged his ear buds in, annoyed by the revelry of his classmates, who had descended into barbarians rather quickly.

Out of the corner of his eyes Natsu saw a student enter through the doorway; late he was, but the teacher really did _not_ care on this particular day.

He was _different;_ his scalp had a mane of long, spiky black hair, growing out of it, almost reaching his waist. The older teen was built like a linebacker; Natsu confirmed to himself that this was what he probably was when he saw his varsity jacket with a football emblem on it. The hair wasn't the strangest thing about the boy though, he had piercings lining the contours and ridges of his face, as well as covering both of his ears as if they were beacons on a hillside. Natsu had seen piercings on many kids before, but this was the first time that he had seen _that_ many. Add the feature of having a permanent scowl on his face, and it gave the teen the air of a gangster.

Natsu could therefore be forgiven for feeling a little apprehension when said teen plopped down next to him, as he was sitting next to the only open desk in the room. His first impression of the football players had been one of disgust and hazard, so he was under no obligation to lower his guard around this particular specimen. He could feel the red eyes of his neighbor pass over him once, and then their owner slumped forward, as if intending to sleep. The next hour of the class passed like this: Natsu's head down listening to music, while the other boy's head was also down, probably sleeping. A beep from his watch caused Natsu to check it; the bell would ring in about five minutes. He lazily picked his head up and was about to get ready to leave by packing up his bag, when he accidentally swept his folder off of his desk, engendering it to land on the pierced boy right next to him.

His breath hitched, he did not want to cause a scene on the _first_ day, and with what he had experienced with these football players, he knew a confrontation was coming. Natsu slowly lifted his eyes as the boy heavily woke from his sleep, expecting to see the maniacal look in the eyes that he had witnessed earlier, but it never came. The red eyes were intimidating enough, but they did contain evil within them. They seemed to stare into his soul, but they eyes were translucent, like a window. Natsu in turn could see into the pierced boy's soul and being, and he was shocked. He did not view what he had expected to; sure to the average onlooker they might have seemed dark and sinful, but that was just a clever façade, created by years of practice. Natsu saw deeply into the boy's eyes, seeing the good hidden behind the layers of artificial bad; they were like the stems of roses, prickly yet retaining the ability to create a beautiful flower. The teen seemed like he had purposely built up darkness in his heart only to let the light back in before it was too late.

All this observation passed in just a moment, and before Natsu could do otherwise, the black-haired boy had wordlessly picked up the folder, and placed it roughly back onto Natsu's desk, slumping back to sleep as he did. _"Huh,"_ Natsu thought, _"I did not expect that. Guess not all the guys on the football team are idiots."_ The thought made him lightly smile; the guy was brooding, but had not had an ounce of judgment in his eyes when looking at Natsu, not something he was exactly used to. _That_ thought made Natsu sad again, as he remembered _why_ he was so self-conscious around strangers in the first place.

He floundered away in his self-induced melancholy for all of third period, using the teacher's droning and monotonous voice as an escape route from his memories. The extra exertion made him _very_ tired entering the fourth period, which was Health. He dragged his feet through the doorway, barely stopping himself from fainting. Like his Calculus teacher, Natsu's Health teacher had given up on teaching the unresponsive students that day, and insisted that they keep the noise level down while he spent the hour on his computer, probably on Facebook.

The hour of listlessness did not exactly help Natsu's dire mission to stay awake, even though he knew that a good rest would be very soothing. He did not, under any circumstances, want to succumb to his past, which often happened when he slept.

He was slumped over in his seat, his hand resting under his chin, trying desperately to fight the demon of sleep; he really wanted to avoid the memories that so often haunted him at night, inevitably always waking him drenched in cold sweat. The atmosphere of the classroom was not helping him though. The constant talking of his classmates seemed to meld together, forming an imperfect harmony of white noise that inexplicably started to lull him, making him yawn. His battle was in vain; sleep came to him like rain did to clouds, and the undying spell wafted over him like mist. _"Aah crap"_ is the last thing that went through his head before his eyes fluttered for the last time and went to the back of his head as he slumped over and surrendered himself to the past.


	10. Dolorific Recollections

**Here's the second part of the last chapter. I could not stop editing it, hence it being near 7,000 words long.**

 **I own nothing.**

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 _Dolorific Recollections_

 _The seduction of Natsu Dragneel by darkness began on the first day of middle school for the young boy, the years past being spent in solitude for he had been too busy moving from one place to another, always kinetic. To say that the boy was excited was an understatement, he was beyond elated; the anticipation had compounded within him for years at the thought of finally going to school and making friends. The nature of his life ensured that he had not been able to settle down long enough to attend school until now, in Margaret town. That very morning he had woken up with a spring in his step, and had even been too excited to poke Wendy's sleeping face, which was part of his usual morning ritual. The letter of admission was just a formality for this school, but had had him jumping with glee._

 _The school he was looking so forward to attending was of medium size and only one floor, with wide, glass doors adorning the entrance. Natsu on that day could be found strolling joyfully along the sidewalk, whistling a merry tune as he neared the entrance, just 8 minutes removed from leaving home. He was a little late, maybe by a couple of minutes, but had been powerless to stop the onslaught of traffic that had blocked his path on the way to the school._

 _Natsu pushed open the doors while using his schedule to navigate the halls inside, eventually making his way to his designated first period, coolly walking upon the white-tiled floor. He paused in front of the class_ "this is it" _he thought. Feeling exultant he pushed open the door_ -"WHERE HAVE YOU BEEN!" _yelled a voice. His eyes followed the origin of the sound to the front of the class where a rather dumpy looking woman sat; she had knotted, red hair, as well as a bossy air about her. Natsu raised his eyebrows questioningly, as whispers started around the classroom, eyes taking in his scarf and unruly pink hair._

"I'm sorry miss, I don't really know what you mean?"

"YOU are 3 minutes late to class" _she said pompously, checking the attendance list,_ "anything to say for yourself Mr... Dragneel?"

"I'm really sorry, I didn't think that it would matter on the first day that mu-" he tried to gesticulate.

"I DON'T CARE WHAT YOU THOUGHT PUNK, OBVIOUSLY YOU SPENT TOO MUCH TIME DYING YOUR HAIR TO LEAVE ANY FOR SCHOOL!" _the teacher belted, leaving the rest of the class snickering quite loudly, like a buzz of annoying bees. Natsu was honestly dumbfounded; he did not know how to react but figured standing there like a fool was not the right answer. He lowered his head and quickly shuffled to the back of the classroom, afraid of catching anyone's eye. He could hear people's whispers as he passed._

"What's up with that hair of his?"

"He looks like a faggot."

"What an idiot."

"Nobody associate with this shithead, he looks _really_ weird."

"Why the fuck is he wearing a scarf in the summer?"

 _Fighting back tears, Natsu sat down in his seat and tried to concentrate on the front of the room, but soon found it hard. The teacher was giving him a scowl that could frighten a scarecrow and kept glancing over to him throughout the hour, as if he were some fungus that needed eradication. Natsu fingered his scarf the whole period, sniffling a bit every time he breathed, causing the people in the vicinity to glare at him mockingly even more. Eventually he stopped staring at the teacher altogether to take his mind off of her, only to have her berate him for not listening in class, which was quite unfair; nobody else was paying the teacher the slightest amount of attention. She called him to her desk to write the poor boy up to the principal, citing an inability to follow directions as well as tardiness as the reasons for his punishment. Silently laughing kids stuck out their legs as Natsu passed towards the teacher's desk, trying to see if they could not trip him. It was in vain of course, Natsu, even in his mortified state, was too conscious of his surroundings to be felled by such a measly prank as tripping; he unconsciously glided past the maze of legs with the practiced grace of a ballerina, thanks to his years of training. Natsu approached the desk, watching the teacher's fat fingers write him up. She ripped the slip with ferocity and handed it to him with a smirk, as if she enjoyed nothing more than getting a student in trouble. Natsu laconically took the slip and left the room, sadness clouding his heart; this was not what he had expected school to be like at all._

 _After 10 minutes of aimless wandering, he was eventually able to locate the principal's office. With a tired sigh he walked in to find a rather bulking man, with cropped hair, who looked like a stereotypical playground-bully._ "So, you are the hooligan who was causing such an uproar in class 204?"

 _Natsu simply nodded, not bothering to correct the man, it would invariably place him into even more trouble._ "So, for your insolence, you will receive detention for one hour this afternoon after school, as well as for the rest of the week." _the principal said smugly,_ "You are dismissed." _Natsu simply nodded again, not daring to look the intimidating man in the eye, wanting nothing more than to disappear, and quickly got up to go back to class. The punishment was absolutely unfair, but he was in no mood to fight back, the humiliation rendering him speechless._

 _The rest of his classes passed in similar fashion up to lunch, news of the incident in his class traveled like wildfire, causing many people around the school to stare at him with impudence, belittling him with their countenance: pointing, shamelessly staring, and even goading him. Some went out of their way to shove him in the hallway, causing him to repeatedly have to pick his stuff up from the ground. Natsu tried his best to ignore the taunting and the bullying, but admittedly it was starting to bother him._

 _He went to the cafeteria for lunch, and paused when he saw a poster, one of many that were similar, on the wall. It depicted a poorly drawn person, with...pink hair. There were words on all the posters, all differing in some way but they all spread the same basic message-PINKY IS A FUCKFACE. Natsu could not fathom what had made people want do that, but reasoned with himself that maybe it was the work of one person; after all, it was his first day here._

 _He sat outside during lunch, under the warm glare of the sun at one of the wooden benches. Eating in silence, he brooded over the events of the day, remembering a particularly bad incident that had happened right before third period. Going to get some water from the fountain, he had noticed a quite pretty girl dropping her pencil. Natsu had courteously picked it up with a smile and handed it to her saying,_ "Here you go." _To his gratification the girl had smiled back lightly and thanked him, giving him a pat on the back. He felt good about himself for the first time that day, because someone had actually smiled at him instead of the constant glaring he had already gotten used to. It came as a jolt when a burly looking boy with blonde hair, much taller and older than Natsu, came rumbling up to him, ruining his moment of bliss, malice and jealousy apparent in his eyes. He had told Natsu off for getting too close to his girlfriend. Natsu had in turn tried to assure the livid boy that he had no intentions of anything immoral and that he was simply trying to be nice. The boy had warned him with a punch to the stomach and turned back to his friends, a suspicious look still in his eyes. The punch had served only to slightly ripple Natsu's muscles a bit, but the intention behind it still hurt him, made him sad that someone would want to physically abuse him._

 _The poor boy shook his head at the short memory, he was not scared of the bigger boy or anyone else for that matter, not in the slightest, but he had hoped that he would be able to avoid any confrontation his first day there; so much for that. He dully finished his lunch, and went to his next class, trying to not let the further bullying he met bother him. The bastion of his mind was slowly crumbling though, and by the end of the day Natsu was simply exhausted with trying to ignore the baleful looks of most of the student body. Many of them jumped on the bandwagon of shunning him because they thought him weak when he refused to fight back; gangbangers the lot of them were. Several times during class and in the halls, cronies of the jealous boy had attempted to trip him again. They had been obviously molested when he had effortlessly evaded their legs. Initially vexed, they had learned to simply walk up to him and shove him down and then to kick him on the ground. The kicks had done nothing except jar him a little, but again they just served to depress him even more. He honestly did not know what had caused such a convolution in the opinions of most of the students, geared towards making his day a living hell._

 _The last period thankfully was uneventful, and after visiting his locker, Natsu indolently made his way to the right end of the school, preparing himself for his hour of undeserved detention._

 _Sighing, Natsu ambled into the classroom, where to his botheration he found the boy who had told him off earlier. Said boy scowled at him menacingly before re-positioning his head in its previous position. He had been responsible for most of the physical abuse applied to Natsu's person for much of the day._

 _The clock on the wall ticked ever so slowly, the hour hand seeming to never move from its position, while the perpetual motion of the minute hand was like Chinese torture to Natsu, chipping a gash in his brain each time it moved. He did not deserve this, had not done anything to merit it, and would rather have been home playing outside with his adorable little sister._ "This school sucks" _he thought scornfully, burying his head into his own arms, wishing nothing more than to relax in his soft bed at home, snuggling with his pillows, while watching TV and eating; it was his favorite pastime. The nostalgic thoughts made him smile a little and he continued to quench his mind's thirst for serenity by indulging in his thoughts some more._

 _Before he knew it, the after-school bell rung, indicating the official end of his first day in purgatory. Natsu stretched his ligaments and sighed, relief spreading through his body like a ripple in water. After grabbing his bag and heading out of the classroom, he ran out of the school, not looking back once, as if some metaphysical evil was about to snatch his soul away. When he deemed himself a safe distance from the entrance of that wretched place, he sighed heavily, succor transforming his countenance. The hot sun pooled sweat onto his skin, and he felt like taking a cold shower when he got home._

 _He was about to start on the street back home, Cherrybend Lane, when a sudden clatter stopped him. It came from a dark alley off to his left that he discerned would take him straight home, cutting_ _through the streets. Natsu was about to use it when a sixth sense stopped him. It seemed to radiate fear and apprehension, as if it were some omen of death._ "But that's absurd" _Natsu thought, there was no way using a stupid alleyway could harm him in any way. But, as he scoped it out, his mind's reasoning started to win him over. It was too dark to see anything past the first 10 or so feet and it strangely smelled of blood. The buildings that it was situated between were high enough that the sun could not pierce the permanent darkness. There seemed to be some sort of aura of pulsation coursing through it, as if the spirits of the dead were roaming about. Suddenly it didn't look so inviting anymore._

 _Natsu quickly changed his mind and figured that the extra 10 minutes he might save were not worth it. He was usually not scared of such trivial things, but there was something about that area that put him off, and there were not many things in the world that could do that. Be it a bad omen or just a simple chimera, he was not going to take that chance today._ _Natsu turned away from the alley and went home the normal way, readying himself for another day in hell, sorry, "school"._

 _The next day as well as the rest of the week passed similarly to the first one. Natsu continued to be bullied, often brutally so. Students of both genders who were acquaintances of the jealous boy seemed hell-bent to make his life Pandemonium. Most of the incidents against Natsu were actually instigated by the jealous ridden boy himself whom Natsu had unknowingly angered by "picking up his girlfriend's pencil". Actually, the reason why a lot of kids seemed to hate Natsu was because of him, as the large boy commanded a power of a sort among his schoolmates. Natsu was pushed, taunted, punched; he was even stabbed once, albeit it was with a pencil. His lunch was demanded from him, his homework was ripped, and his clothes were ridiculed. Youth unchecked often becomes a devil. If Natsu learned anything from that experience it was that jealousy was a dooming monster, fully capable of carnage._

 _The detention everyday did not help Natsu's ever-weakening control on his temper, which was constantly at boiling point during that week. He found himself even snapping at Wendy once when she had innocently asked him about his school day at home but he had quickly_ _apologized, citing homework as the cause of his unruly attitude. Several devious incidents seemed to follow him wherever he went at school, getting progressively worse with each new one, but still he refused to fight back, enraging his assailants even more. They always seemed to push the boundaries when tormenting him, almost reaching the periphery yet backing out at the last moments, so as to avoid punishment from the teachers. Natsu was trying very hard to not lose control of his temper, because he knew that if he did, his secret would be found out by all the wrong people and that he could end up doing something he would sorely regret. His lack of reaction did not go unnoticed by his bullies, who were all actually one condensed group made up of the jealous boy's acolytes. They used Natsu's calmness to insult him even more, labeling it as cowardice. There were actually some kids who pitied Natsu and wanted to help him, but they themselves were afraid that the spotlight would then be turned unto them; so they did nothing._

 _To say Natsu was relieved come Friday morning was an understatement; he was ecstatic. He braved the storm of school that day, the fact that it was his last day of detention powered him through the insults and the punches. He was able to brush off pretty much everything the students threw at him as he anticipated a relaxing and pacifying first weekend off from school._

 _He just had to get through one more blasted hour of detention and then he was free. To no great shock, his personal devil, AKA the jealous boy, was also in detention, again. For someone who hated him so much, Natsu thought it a little sad that he did not even know his tormentor's name. He sat down but did not sleep as usual, the thought of the weekend acting like a stimulant flowing through his bloodstream. The wait for the bell was not as tortuous as it was before and he bounded out of his seat as soon as it did ring. Natsu raced out of school and stopped once he was a certain distance, coincidentally it was right in front of the alleyway he had glimpsed his first day. He was finally free!_

 _About to run off again, he heard a rather brutish voice yell-_

"OI FUCKFACE!" _the jealous boy from detention instigated,_ "Don't think that you can escape me today that easily, I've got some business with you!"

 _Natsu turned around unexpectedly to see a hulking figure with blonde hair, slowly stalking towards him. They just wanted to ruin every second of happiness he had didn't they? The day was supposed to be filled with relaxation and placidity for Natsu and if he let the bigger boy have his way with him, that would definitely not happen. Natsu then made a decision that would later haunt him. He took off into the ominous alley, ignorant of his earlier premonitions, not noticing the overcast sky filling with thunder-clouds. His feet slapped the pavement as he ran, twisting and turning along the circuitous corridor, his body enveloped by shadow as he got deeper in. He could see some light ahead and made out what appeared to be a bulb that was lit, hanging from the porch of one of the rooms that occupied the building. A pity that their only view was a damp, disgusting alley. Distracted by the light, Natsu did notice initially the flaw in his plan, the alleyway turned right at a sharp 90 degree angle, which was the way Natsu needed to go to get home. The perilous flaw was that there was currently a parked truck blocking the way, probably loading shipping materials from one of the warehouses in the vicinity. Not only that, but that was the only way forward in the alley, the other directions were blocked off by the walls of the buildings, much to Natsu's chagrin. With dread, he backed up towards the wall, nowhere left to run, if the balconies had been but just a few feet lower, than he would have been able to wall-jump onto them but alas they were not. Trying to think of a way out of the baneful situation, he heard what he did not want to hear-_

"HEY PINKY! Where aaaare yooouuuu?" _an arrogant voice taunted. The owner of the voice looked just a little afraid to be in the dark confines of the alley, but his face lit up in sadistic glee when he glimpsed Natsu with his back to the wall, nowhere left to run._ "Oh there you are, ready for your daily ass-kicking dickhead?" _The larger boy started to shove Natsu backwards until he was touching the wall again, Natsu simply let him, hopeful that this would end quickly. It did not however; the boy took out his fists and started socking Natsu left and right, barely hurting him but annoying him greatly. He threw down Natsu's bag and spread its contents purposefully, an evil grin on his face as he did so. While he was preoccupied with this Natsu had turned back towards the wall, trying to gauge if he could escape that way. The bigger boy noticed this and took it as a sign of disrespect,_ "What do you think you're doing dumbass, there's no way you're getting out of this. No matter how much we beat you at school, you never seem hurt. Well I'm gonna make sure that I _break_ you today." _he finished with a malicious gleam in his eyes. As he was talking the clouds in the sky had gathered together and started to let forth a torrent of run, inundating the alley._

 _Natsu groaned, this was just what he needed now, another idiot trying to push his buttons. He turned to face him, not an inch of fear displayed, and met the boy's gaze with an unwavering one of his own, water dripping down his face._ "What's with that look?" _the idiot questioned,_ "Don't tell me you're tryna mad-dog, it won't work." _though he could not keep the fear out of his face. Natsu's countenance was very serious at this moment. The boy must have been dropped too many times as an infant though, because he then launched into an angry tirade inveighing Natsu-_

"You are _such_ a little prick, you know that? Even before I saw you trying to hit on _my_ girlfriend, I knew you were a load of trouble. I heard all the rumors and gossip about your little _episode_ in first period, the whole school did. If you're wondering by the way, it was _me_ who started putting up those posters, people just seemed to follow me like dogs once I started, they must hate you _that_ much. Honestly it's not hard to see why, you look like a fucking queer with that hair; lemme tell you, it was pretty retarded to dye it pink. And what's up with that stupid scarf? Are you cold?! It's fucking summer dumbshit!"

 _Throughout his little diatribe, the oblivious boy had not noticed Natsu seething in anger, trying desperately to hold himself back before he literally killed him. This time was different from the other ones, he could not escape, could not get away before his anger burst. It was definitely proving hard; each new comment just served to enrage Natsu more than he already was, his temper was already supercharged due to the events of the past week. Natsu was shaking, with sweat rolling down his skin and making his hair moister, wondering how much longer this heathen would talk. His body subconsciously flickered into the readying stance of the external style, so ingrained was it in his nature. However the idiot opposite him was much too preoccupied with his insulting speech to take notice of the movements initiated by Natsu, still insisting on impugning him-_

"I mean, how dare you even talk to my girlfriend, let alone let her _touch_ you. Nobody does that but me you piece of shit. And you are such a fucking loner; I saw you at lunch all week, being a twat and sitting outside, all by yourself," _he mocked, making a crying face but Natsu still had not reacted and that prompted the boy to try even harder,_ "like you'll ever have any friends, not as long as I'm here, and even if I wasn't you still probably wouldn't be able to make any. Why don't you just go home and FUCK your sister before I make you, you incestuous freak." _the boy finished, not even sure if Natsu had a sister; he was just trying to insult him in any way possible by now, desperate for a reaction that would satiate his ravenous appetite for inflicting pain. While uttering that last remark he proceeded to run towards Natsu, screaming at the top of his lungs, fists raised, ready to strike again._

 _It was that last comment that had finally sent Natsu over the edge that he had been slowly building up, towards the point of no return, releasing the innate demon of his soul. One could almost see the haze of bloodlust that spread over his visage, like the grim reaper was standing behind him, goading him forward. His pupils almost dilated into slits, and turned blood-red. All the pain, anger, and humiliation he had suffered compounded within his body, almost exploding because it was at carrying capacity, and it blinded him to his usual mild-mannered self. Time slowed almost to a halt in Natsu's head, his body already being in the stance of the external style, and he got ready to attack. The stupid boy came at him still, footsteps echoing across the alleyway, swinging a wild fist aimed right at Natsu's head. To Natsu it looked like a stick of jelly; he shifted his head back 30 degrees, easily avoiding the punch and then proceeded to lock his arms into the boy's shoulders, effectively stupefying him. He then used the hold to push the boy back a couple of feet, who then staggered and stumbled with a surprised look on his face, not entirely sure what had just happened, it only took half a second._ "Look kid, I don't know what just happened, but you better get ready to get the shit beat out of ya, I'll make sure you won't be able to walk tomorrow you frea-"

 _It was due to that last utterance that Natsu lost any suppression he might have still had on his raging anger, "freak" being a dangerous trigger-word for him, and he made a deal with the devil as lightning flashed overhead. He shifted his body stance into that of the Nan Chuan style and exploded forward off of the balls of his heels and landed lightly in front of the slightly dazed boy, the wind whipping his hair as he went. Natsu used the momentum of his dash and twisted his torso to add extra power to nail the boy's left shoulder blade with his right fist-BOOSH-; a bone fractured. Before the boy could double back from the force of the punch, Natsu had already twisted his body again in the opposite direction this time, bringing his left fist up from its previous place beside his waist, and buried it in the boy's lower abdomen-UGH-. That hit busted his liver and caused blood to fly out of his mouth, but Natsu was too possessed to neither notice nor care. A split second after hitting the boy in his abdomen, Natsu's body was leaning slightly forward after the punch, so he used the leverage to swing around his right leg, violently exploding his foot into the boy's left knee-AARGH-, completing a rapid 3-hit combo. The hit broke his kneecap, and jarred the entire knee, contorting it into an unnatural shape and flinging it backwards from the force. Natsu was no longer human, he was a concentrated mass of pure destruction. The other boy was now standing on one leg for an instant, off balance; an instant in which Natsu was already readying his left fist again, spinning his body so that it came flying up from his side to tempestuously meet the boy's chest, where it broke several ribs, some piercing his lungs, the boy coughed up some more blood. While Natsu had delivered this latest hit, he had also been slightly crouching, so as to launch himself and the boy 5 feet into the air with the force of the punch to the chest. The boy was now horizontally suspended in the air for a split moment, in which Natsu, who was right up there with him, struck his right fist in a downward arc as if were a hammer into the boy's hip, effectively cracking and convoluting his right pelvis. The now pitiable boy was nearly unconscious, not even aware of his surroundings as his body went through hell-fire. He was slammed back down onto the ground from the force of the strike to his hip. The hit was so hard, that once his body hit the ground-BAM-, it actually bounced nearly 4 feet back up into the air splashing rain-water while it went, as if it was part of some video game; this action ruptured his femur and his tibia, as well as part of his spine. Natsu had landed right after the hard ground propelled the boy back into the air. He was in a slightly crouching stance the moment he landed, and he used his legs like a springboard, impelling himself upright again. Natsu then locked both of his arms by his side and brought his right leg upwards, performing a double-jointed kick to the airborne boy's calf, tearing it in the process-RIP-. He then used the momentum from the kick, to spin around 180 degrees while bringing his left leg with him, using the torque to increase the power behind it, the air almost heated up from the speed of his actions. Natsu fully brought his body around and slammed the palm of the bottom of his left foot onto the boy, who was still in the air, and broke his right shin-CRACK-. Natsu, still in a rage, did not let the boy's form touch the ground yet, and used his right hand to scrunch up the collar of his shirt, holding up his body, as if in a one-handed choke hold._

 _The rampant barrage of blows took just 4 seconds to pass._

 _Natsu found himself breathing deeply with anger, anger that had been building up within him for the past week, his body still on a high after it lost total control, as he held up the near corpse of the other boy. He was shaking with adrenaline; sweat caused his clothes to stick to him like glue as it ran down his whole body, making it look like he just visited the pool. His breathing was erratic and his legs were shaking, about to buckle from the lack of action, signaling the imminent mollification of his body. Slowly but surely, the cold-blooded and brutal haze that was blinding him to reason lifted from his senses like shadows do from light, and he eventually staggered backward whilst dropping the bloody form of the boy, sitting against the alley wall. What had he just done? He had just taken out his wrath on an innocent schoolboy (not that innocent, but innocent enough) and nearly killed him? He had no right to use his superior ability to hurt someone inferior to him. With a frightful gulp he crawled his way over to the bloody mess, afraid to check his pulse. He instead just decided to observe the results of his machinations for now, and they were ugly._

 _His assailant's body was laying in an ever-increasing pool of blood, with his left knee contorted in a way that made Natsu want to puke. He looked to have suffered a concussion and parts of his shin were sticking out of his leg, white bone gleaming in the faint light. The boy's left shoulder looked to be permanently dislocated, the cartilage irreparably ruptured; all the bones in his left arm crumpled to the edge of the boy's skin, as if it was a loaf of bread in a bag. There was blood clotting near the boy's stomach, with no piercing hole; a sign of internal bleeding from the busted liver. There was also blood dripping out of his mouth, adding to the already moderate pool. The blood and water from the rain dripped down the boy's body, creating an adulterated mixture. The boy's chest seemed to be pointy and dagger-like, the skin upturned in all directions, probably the result of the chaotic state of his ribs; it looked like a garden of swords. The cartilage in his calve was slipping out, destroyed from the force of Natsu's kick. Lastly, worst of all, the boy's right pelvis and femur were both crooked beyond measure, as if they had become their left counterparts. They looked to be permanently crippled. It gave the boy the appearance of a_ _rag doll, except it was from hell._

 _The "thing" on the ground no longer resembled the brutish boy that Natsu had become so familiar with that week, instead it looked like an abstruse corpse of the undead: coiled, twisted, and gyrated almost beyond fathoming._

 _For the first and "only" time in his life, Natsu cried._

 _No, crying would do no justice to what he did; he bawled and wept with despondent emotion. He was in fear, he was in pain, and he was certainly not about to go through it again. Natsu was crying profusely; he was filled with disgust and hate for himself as well as horror from the incident, his tears wetting his face along with the rain. There was something in the back of his mind that had told him not to venture through the alley, but due to his haste, he had done exactly that._

 _Still sniffling somewhat after 10 minutes, he finally built up the courage to check the boy's heartbeat. Natsu knelt in the red pool and pressed a shaking palm to his heart... nothing, nothing, nothi-BUM, BUm, Bum, bum. The steady beat of his heart was still coursing through the boy's body, acting as an evanescent antidote, though getting quieter by the second. Natsu's eyebrows rose in shock, and his eyes narrowed with determination. He picked up the mess of a boy, and slung the almost-elastic form onto his back, dragging him along quickly. He tried not to injure the boy anymore than he had already, but that was proving difficult as his body continuously hit_ _something, be it gravel or rough pavement. He wiped the water from his eyes, blinking back tears._

 _Exiting the alley, he found what he had seen for the first time at the beginning of that week: a quaint little hospital off to the right of the school. Natsu used the back alley of the middle school, so as not to come across any possible stragglers. The hospital building was completely white, and was almost in the exact shape of a cube. It had a red cross on top; the axiom for medical aid around the world, and Natsu desperately needed it now. He quietly pushed open the glass doors, dragging in the limp body. The lobby was small and had two swinging_ _doors, each leading to what were probably the operation rooms. There was an administrative desk at the center, which is where Natsu headed._

 _The nurse at the desk was talking on the phone and had absentmindedly glanced over at Natsu, her face immediately transforming with horror. She hit the call button on her desk, indicating the need for emergency medical attention. Before 20 seconds were up, 3 other nurses had rushed through the doors of the lobby leading deeper into the hospital, with a wheeled bed in tow. Natsu was in too much of a miasma to hear anything the doctors and nurses were saying, so they eventually left him alone after a minute of pestering, assuming he was suffering from trauma. He looked the part because his body was still lightly bruised from when the boy was punching him._

 _The disconsolate Natsu patiently waited in the lobby for any confirmation on the bigger boy's status, swinging his legs like any other normal kid. Five hours removed from arrival, one of the nurses came to tell him that they had performed necessary surgery and that the boy's injuries had been nearly fatal. She then inquired again what had been the cause of the boy's wounds, to which Natsu feigned brainlessness and the nurse eventually left him alone. The staff at the hospital were not too suspicious about the whole incident because Natsu was just a boy, one exceedingly smaller than the victim. They instead elected to contact the victim's parents giving Natsu a chance for escape. Once Natsu had the confirmation that the boy would not die, he quietly slipped out of the hospital without anyone noticing, an easy enough task for him. Silently he pulled his scarf tighter around his neck._

 _Walking outside, he noticed that while it was still raining, it was now night, the length he had waited accounting for that. He was truly unsure on how to feel, he just could not understand what had come over him, and he had almost ended that boy's life in a matter of seconds. So what if he had given Natsu hell for the entire week? Bullies were axiomatic to school, in that they would always be there. Natsu had no right to take out his pent up anger on that boy, had no right to use his near-extraterrestrial skills on someone way in over their head. He slapped himself a couple of times to focus his mind some more, almost reveling in the self-inflicted punishment, as if in retribution._

 _Natsu saw a shadow on his arms, and with a start he realized he was in the same alley that the horrible event had taken place not so long ago. He had walked aimlessly and was somehow drawn to the area unconsciously; not a good sign. The shadowed abyss of the alley was almost completely blank by this hour, a black hole of death. With a different motive this time, he again set out through the dark corridor, intent on actually reaching home this time. He had to-no, needed to do this, or he would never wipe out the red from his eyes. PIT-PAT PIT-PAT, the sound of his feet slapping the ground heightened his senses in the alley, as they echoed eerily. CRASH-he thought he saw a flash of fur disappear under a metal can. The demons were out tonight, Natsu not being able to walk a matter of steps before almost being physically lashed by an arbitrary noise, impregnating the peaceful aura he was trying to muster._

 _Finally he could see the light of a lamppost, permeating the evil of the darkness, at the end of the tunnel. He was close, oh so close to home, when he saw something that made his eyes melt with fear. It was a specter, he did not know if it was a figment of his imagination or something entirely different, but it was definitely there. It looked to be a dove, but there was some sort of grimy stain on it. With a twist of his stomach he realized that it was blood. Natsu was desperately moved to touch it, to help it; the poor creature was bleeding after all. He leaned towards it, convinced it was tangible, but at the last second, it seemed to ping with occult electricity. His fingers were a few centimeters from accomplishment; it was now or never. But, he could not bring himself to do it; something about it seemed to promise despair, and he had had enough that day to last decades. Natsu almost had to grab his own hand to stop it from touching, such a paradox. After a quiet but intense internal battle with his own consciousness, he started to pry his own hand away and he wistfully withdrew it, heading out of the alley while grating his hand on the rough wall, choosing light over aberration. The rain and thunder finally stopped._

 _The boy Natsu had nearly killed never remembered anything past the end of detention, waking up 6 days later with a sever headache and learning that he would be confined to a wheelchair for the foreseeable future. The teachers of Margaret Middle School were mildly surprised when they were informed the next day that a certain Natsu Dragneel would no longer be attending. They were given no reason for the withdrawal, just that it was a grave personal matter. Natsu disappeared from Margaret Town that night, making a pact with himself to never clash with those weaker than him, and, if his hand was ever forced, to use the least restraining force possible._

 _From then on Natsu lived with constant fear of losing control from that day on, even when his immediate attention was shifted to something nicer; it was always there at the back of his subconscious, biting away at his hippocampus. The psychological effects seemed to impact his sleep too; many nights following the horrific event, he woke up to find himself in the bathroom washing and scrubbing his hands in the sink,…..as if there was blood on them._

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"Uuugh" Natsu groggily grunted, rubbing his eyes until he saw spots. He smacked his mouth lazily and looked around, reacquainting himself with his surroundings. _"Oh, yeah, it's almost time for lunch."_ he thought divertingly, _"I wonder if I'll see Happy"_ he was trying hard to push the most recent nightmare out of his mind. As the bell finally rung and he got ready to leave, he cursed his past, and cursed himself; if only he had not gone down that path on that fated and accursed day.

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 **If you think this should be M, please leave a review saying so, otherwise I probably will not change it, thank you!**


	11. Affiance by Association

**Here is the new chapter. It is a bit late because I am currently on a 2 week vacation, but I _did_ bring my laptop. I will try my best to update across these next 2 weeks. I do not know how other authors update, whether or not they write ahead and then update sequentially, but I like to write a chapter one at a time, each one before I post it. That way I can give my utmost attention to editing the chapter and making it better than it was (editing often takes me up to 4-5 hours). On another note this is probably the penultimate chapter of the first run-through of Natsu's pov. Lucy is probably next again. Also if any of you are wondering why I changed the cover image for this story, I simply thought that it would better represent the theme, nothing else. Lastly thank you for the 100 reviews and nearly 3,000 views!**

 **I own nothing.**

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Affiance by Association

Natsu exited his Health classroom and looked right first and then left, spotting what he desired. The classroom he was just in was on the fourth floor and he was frantically trying to get to the lunchroom, a voracious appetite starting to build within him. The hallway he stepped out into was rapidly filling with people as if the classrooms all suddenly had a leak in them; they created a sort of disjointed train, always moving but never together.

The starving boy knew he needed to get the grand stairwell that was at the end of all the main halls on each floor; it connected each of them to the cafeteria on the second floor. Natsu jostled quickly towards the stairwell and joined the growing line of students wanting to get to lunch. Filing within the line, it started to move slowly, as the sheer amount of people on the stairs was already in excess. Finding himself stopping in a random position on the stairs more than once, Natsu took out his syllabus to check his schedule. He found that the lunch period, which was fifth for everyone, lasted about an hour, and that more than being just for lunch, it was a time of leisure for students. They were allowed to freely roam the school during the hour, doing homework, make-up tests, or basically anything they pleased. He grinned when he read that last part; it gave him the freedom to do whatever he wanted in that hour.

Natsu leaned onto the railings as he walked, his hand already resting there. He peered down into the hole of space created by the twisting steps, gazing at different peopleFinally after walking 3 sets of intertwining staircases, the lunchroom was in his sight. The wait had been aggravating, the mass of bodies surrounding him had jarred and jostled his body the whole way there. He _had_ used the time to observe other people, but was very careful not to catch their eye; there was nothing more mortifying than having someone catch you blatantly staring at them. He saw hair of different colors, bodies of different sizes, faces of different structures, each of those three variables changing ever so slightly from one person to the next, creating something unique. Having swiveled his head when he was almost upon the bottom of the steps, Natsu again glimpsed some of the girls he had seen near the entrance that morning, the ones he had assumed played lacrosse. This time he saw Wendy with one of them, but did not call out, as she would not recognize him with the hoodie on. Her face was turned just enough so that he could see it, and she was having a lively conversation with a girl who had blonde hair and also had her back turned towards him. _"Damn it"_ Natsu thought. He was curious to see the blonde girl's face, as he had not gotten a glimpse of it in the morning either; he was interested in what kinds of people Wendy made friends with. Especially since she seemed to be rather enjoying herself. Beside her stood a _very_ short girl, with a grumpy look on her face, who had snow white hair. It was strange, she didn't look at all like she should to be in high school, much less a teenager. Hearing a "MOVE", Natsu hastily turned forward again, breaking out of his thoughts.

The staircase ended and he hopped off the last one, earning a grumble from the girl in front of him. Entering the lunchroom, he saw a potpourri of students drifting about doing a number of different things. Some were eating, some were playing; some were working, some were slacking. It was a very big room, the ceiling nearly reached up to 50 feet, where banners parading the school's many accomplishments hung; they ranged from theater to golfing. Containing almost 50 tables with around 100 seats each, the lunchroom was very spacious, nicely accommodating the huge student population at the school. The cafeteria was contiguous to the back end of the courtyard, which Natsu could see thanks to the huge windows adorning the wall. He could make out some students sitting outside too, basking in the glow of the sun and enjoying their meals. He didn't get why any normal person (he was an exception) would want to sit in the hot sun, but, to each their own.

The numerous amount of students in the room created that familiar sound of mass conversation that is often present when humans get together anywhere, it was fascinating to him because he could hear many of the conversations via his highly sensitive hearing. Natsu could not stand there forever and observe however, as there were people behind him clamoring to get food too. Off to his left, along the edge of the cafeteria, were the food stations. Each one was a little open-entranced room that one would enter, and go through a buffet of sorts, except it was not self-serving. There were five of them to be exact: one for vegans, one for barbecue, one for deli, one for variety, and one exclusively for pizza. Natsu's mouth watered as all the smells of the room wafted together to interfuse, filling his sense of smell with a cornucopia of ambrosian fragrance. He could not _wait_ to get over there and stuff his face until he exploded; Wendy was always musing (out loud of course) why he wasn't obese, to which he always friskily answered back, having many retorts in reserve. _"She's just jealous"_ he would reason.

The putrid smell of the bathroom perturbed him a little as he walked past it, intent on getting to the food, but he tried hard not to let it bother him. Natsu placed himself in the variety line, their menu simply stated that a unique dish would be served everyday, giving away no secrets. This station seemed to be the least popular one, as the line was rather short. Among the people _in_ the line, Natsu thought he saw a tuft of light blue hair on one of them, when suddenly-

"OOOOH Crab! YESSS! Thank _god_ they're serving crab today!" The people who were around the owner of the voice spared him a strange look before going back to their own business. Natsu squinted his eyes and saw Happy gleefully accept his meal from the lunch-lady and then watched him almost prance to the check-out lady where he payed for the food. Natsu chuckled at the boy's callowness, yet he ironically had the same reaction as Happy when the enticing aroma of crab entered his nostrils. For the umpteenth time that day he inwardly thanked the younger boy for the hoodie, as people were giving him strange looks as well. However they simply shook their heads again, grouping him with Happy in their minds, and went back to their own food, saving Natsu from any further embarrassment. After becoming aware of his near-unconscious outburst, Natsu diffidently made his way over to the cash-register, clutching his food tray rather tightly.

While telling the lunch-lady at the register to "hurry up" earned him a scowl, it was worth it as he clambered out of the food station and back into the lunchroom, scanning it for Happy. He twisted and turned his head every which way, but it was to no avail; he just could _not_ spot such a small person among all these bigger people. Hoodie or not, Natsu was beginning to look like a moron just standing there, so he resigned himself to just go and find Wendy when he heard a voice shout over the raucous noise of the cafeteria, "NATSU, over here!"

He followed the trail of the voice to the edge of the cafeteria, near the exit that he knew would take one back to the main hall. He frowned in confusion as he made his way over to Happy, who simply beckoned him to follow him through the exit when he got near enough. As they walked along the path that Natsu could tell would indefinitely lead to the lobby, he struck up a conversation with his new friend to try and alleviate his concerns, "So Happy, where are we going, because I would have expected someone like you to eat in the cafeteria."

Happy smiled at his curiousness, "Well, I actually do most of the time. Usually I sit with a friend of mine, the one I was telling you about before by the way. She has lots of other friends who are all girls actually. Anyway, today they weren't there yet in the lunchroom when I got there and I felt like eating outside, so I was about to head out when I saw you."

"Won't your friend get worried about you though?" Natsu inquired worriedly.

"I hope she doesn't and I _really_ needed a break from them anyway. They're always squishing my cheeks together and telling me how cuuute I am while trying to constantly hug me, it honestly gets pretty annoying." Happy pouted while rolling his eyes. "I mean, the other day I was pretty much _forced_ to sit on one of their laps for the whole hour while they tried to spoon-feed me; I can feed myself thank you very much!. And don't get me started on the constant cuddling, it's like they think I'm a cat or something." he shuddered, looking very much like what he wished the girls would stop calling him.

Natsu laughed, "Maybe that's why so many people were bullying you; they went mad with jealousy. Seems like a lot of guys like the girls you hang out with."

Happy blushed a bit at the joke, but regained his wits quickly enough, "Well I bet you would liiiiiike one of the girls I hang out with _too_ if you saw them." he countered as he rolled his tongue. He wanted to make Natsu blush just like he had moments prior but to his disappointment Natsu simply scoffed.

"People in high school are too weird and immature to be obsessing about their love lives and " _who likes who?"_ if you ask me."

"But you're weird and immature too."

"That's beside the point" Natsu started unperturbed, using his hands for emphasis while he walked and talked, "I mean, what's the point of going out with someone if you're probably gonna break up with them anyway. It's like a trial-run for divorce pretty much. I think the only reason you should ever date someone in high school, is if you _know_ that they're going to marry you. But, since that's impossible, you _really_ shouldn't date in high school, it's a waste of time in my opinion. People should concentrate on more important stuff at this age, like eating for example. They can love later." he finished. Any concepts of relationships or love were foreign to Natsu, who, due to his chronic lack of friends, never developed the need to act on any hormonal urges he might have ever had. He lacked the social knowledge of what a "crush" was or what it meant to "like someone" due in part to his obliviousness on the matter and also because the events of his past caused him to ridicule any couples he ever saw or heard of, deeming them foolish. His only exposure to a couple had ended rather badly and the only thing he had inferred from that situation was that relationships were unhealthy for the mind and body due to the excess of feelings and stress it might engender within a person. The only things he knew about relationships were the obvious ones, and he had to guess most of those for himself (the rest were halfheartedly explained by Wendy while she was crying after they had watched a chick flick one night). Natsu's knowledge on the subject was severely limited and biased due to the lack of exposure he received. Acts such as holding hands puzzled him, _"Why do they need to touch each other when they're right next to each other?",_ he was somewhat sickened by kissing, _"It looks like they're trying to eat their faces off!",_ and to cap it off, he did not even know what sex was, _"Why do all these TV shows have a bunch of scenes where the guy and the girl are all hot and heavy with each other? They seem to cut it off when it starts to get serious anyway."_ He assumed that people were labeled as a "couple" when they decided to partake in an auxiliary marriage of some sort that was doomed to fail. The only love he contained was for Wendy and maybe too for Happy soon, and that was _very_ different from the type that Happy was talking about.

"Maybe you just haven't met the right person yet." Happy countered to Natsu, too stubborn to admit defeat just yet, though he fidgeted under the heat of the older boy's argument. Natsu was about to reply back in kind when he got distracted by a flash of red off to his right. There was a painting on the wall that they were walking along, near the entrance to the art studio. It depicted a fiery red dragon on top of a mountain peak, brilliant flames spewing from its mouth skyward, as if in victory. "OOOOOH" Natsu curtailed his conversation with Happy in favor of bounding over to the painting and fawning over it, his eyes as big as saucers. As Happy watched his new friend squeal and grovel over the realism of the painting with amiable childishness, he hung his head and accepted sorry defeat, _"Maybe he really doesn't like anyone."_

After Natsu was done worshiping the paintings, the twosome continued their descent upon the path that would lead to the lobby. Natsu knew they had reached their destination when they rounded the corner of the main hallway into the lobby. Together they walked over to the entrance and pushed it open, where harsh sunlight met their extemporary eyes. They were both blinded for a few seconds, but weathered through the irritation to proceed forward.

There were not that many people out in the front courtyard that day, the spacious vista was a haven for the burning rays of the sun, so most people decided not to eat there when it was sunny out; it was like stepping into a furnace. The normally student-laden fountain was barren, and there were only a few people milling about. Happy led Natsu over to an average sized magnolia tree off in the left corner of the courtyard, near the exit. It's leaves were already beginning to turn yellow, but someone clearly hadn't informed the sun that Autumn was upon Magnolia, because it was shining as bright as ever. Thankfully, the tree offered a good amount of shade compared to the rest of the area. Natsu and Happy entered the periphery of the shade as one would into water, wading into the intangible substance and feeling the relief one usually felt when entering a pool for the first time. They both sighed as they let their joints and muscles relax, feeling euphoric. Natsu tiredly slumped against the surprisingly smooth bark of the tree, while beads of sweat started to pour down his tanned face. Happy did the same as he put his tray in front of him and began to inspect his crab, trying to formulate the best way to attack it.

Natsu noticed this and tried his luck, "Soooo, are you gonna eat that, because if you can't I would be more than happy to take it off of your hands." he put on a pleading face while he finished, rubbing his stomach for added effect.

Happy gave him an incredulous look before stabbing the crab with his fork and shoving it into his mouth, "Hey, it's not my fault that _someone_ thought it was a good idea to eat their crab on the way here." and he started to moan while chewing the crab, emphasizing Natsu's mistake.

"Ugh, you're sooo mean." Natsu complained while inwardly cursing himself; he had not been able to resist the enticing allure of the crab when he had gobbled it up whole right after scoping out the paintings. It was just _too_ tempting. He would have gone back to get more food, but he did not have enough money to pay for more than one meal a day. When things got desperate, he and Wendy usually just packed a measly lunch for themselves, but it was never enough to satiate their hunger. Natsu hastily switched the subject from food, not wanting to hurt his poor stomach anymore.

He asked Happy what kind of courses that he was taking, to which the younger boy replied with great alacrity. While he was talking animatedly, Natsu sat there sluggishly, his limbs no better than jello. The day had been very taxing and it was only halfway done. He inwardly groaned, so desperately wanting the weekend to come. Natsu was just about to ask Happy to list out his grades when he remembered something, "Oh yeah I forgot to ask you this morning, is your academic partner really going to be a high schooler, because you're like 5 to 7 years younger than the rest of us?"

Happy shook his head firmly, "No, no, I'm actually a special case, since there's such an age gap between me and them, there is only one student who would be able to partner up with me." and for some inexplicable reason, after he said this he ducked his eyes under his bangs and blushed deeply.

Natsu absentmindedly scratched an annoying itch on his back while pondering Happy's predicament, "Ok, so what you're telling me is that there's only _one_ person who can be your partner right?" Happy nodded in affirmation, "Then who is it?"

Still blushing Happy fumbled his fingers in his lap, eyeing his unfinished crab, "Well, she's also a student here of course, and, like me, she was able to skip a lot of grades earlier on. Us two are actually the only people this young at Magnolia High. Her name's Carla." he finished shyly. Natsu however was too focused on the still uneaten crab to make note of Happy's mortified state, and as soon as the smaller boy had taken his eyes off of it to say Carla's name, Natsu pounced, gobbling up the poor crab whole, as he had been eyeing it the entire time.

"HEY! I wasn't done with that yet!" Happy insisted, indignant at his friend's actions, trying to reach into Natsu's mouth.

Natsu chortled while chewing, "You snooze, you lose. Let this be an important life lesson, never take your eye off of your food, you still lack training in that department" and he started to laugh again at his own wit. Happy had a grumpy scowl on his face, not finding the joke funny at all. He was about to say something smart when he remembered something important. He had forgotten to tell Natsu the names of his friends at lunch. While berating himself for it, he started to say something, "By the way Natsu, forget the crab, I-"

His sentence was stopped midway when a shadow fell upon his body. Natsu noticed him stop and looked up to where happy's eyes were now pointing, and he saw a hulking student who looked like he had been held back quite a few times. Natsu thought this because the guy had a goatee, his brown hair cropped under his chin in three separate points. It shockingly accentuated his spiky hair and crescent-moon earrings. Natsu sensed Happy gulping with trepidation, and his guard was immediately raised. He did not move however; movement was a sign of agitation and apprehension to any and all enemies, be it a playground ruffian or an elite fighter. Happy's breathing had started to become labored. The two of them sat there, staring at the newcomer who gazed back at them with arrogant, almost lazy, brown eyes. He smirked, "You're lucky that there's a witness here today kid," he gestured slightly to Natsu with a gruff voice and leaned in close to Happy's face to stress his words, "else I would be wiping the floor with you _right_ _now._ You better remember my request soon kid, _or else_ "he threatened menacingly.

Still smiling a bit with a wicked grin, he backed up from Happy's terrified face and turned around, jaunting away to his destination, as if Natsu and Happy were just a simple pit-stop on his "epic journey of life". Happy's breath slowly turned back to normal as he took deep breaths to calm himself. Natsu's cheerful demeanor had quickly gained much more gravity, "Happy, who exactly was that?"

The frightened boy answered with a shaky breath, "Azuma; one of the football players. He used to bully me a _lot_. Same reason as Bora actually and because I was an easy target to show off with. I've been trying my best recently to avoid any trouble like that, but I guess he's not one to give up so easily."

Natsu tilted his head in thought, "You know, it's weird that all these guys you say that have been bullying you happen to be on the football team."

"Yeah, I wonder why?" Happy pondered looking up at the leaves in thought, but neither of them came up with anything. For all their smarts in school, at the end of the day both of them were simple-minded idiots to the highest degree. The duo shook themselves simultaneously and then each knocked his head a bit, trying to think of something. It was really a marvel how alike they were, as if they had been together their whole lives. Natsu eventually just turned his attention back to the other problem.

"Well, if that _Azuma_ guy, or whatever the hell he's called, stood there for another moment I would have handled it." he said determinedly, with a fierce glare in his eye, and for some reason Happy though he saw a flicker of red there, but he passed it off as a trick of the light when it did not reappear.

Happy shuddered a bit and turned again to look at Natsu, "By handled, you _do_ mean what happened to Bora right?"

"Weeeell, it doesn't _have_ to be that, it could be something else." Natsu countered carefully, putting his hands up in mock defense. Happy though, wasn't finished with his light interrogation, curiosity inundating his brain with the courage to speak about the events of that morning.

"Actually, what you did to Bora was very strange, one second I was getting ready for him to hit me, the next thing I know, he's lying on the ground, knocked out. I guess I should be more thankful, but I really can't help wondering how you did it, because I didn't even _see_ you move, you just came out of nowhere."

Natsu removed the hood of the hoodie to slightly expose his blue-dyed pink hair and leaned his head further back against the tree. He was not too sure on how to answer Happy's inquiry. He liked the younger boy very much for sure, feeling very comfortable in his presence for some reason. But, he was not yet ready to reveal his past and his closely guarded secret yet. Happy needed to fully first gain his trust first, which was already near the point where Natsu could believe in the younger boy to keep his secrets for him; he had made that much of an impression on Natsu. However, it was only the first of hopefully many days of friendship to come and it was not yet the right time to entrust his past to another person. Natsu decided to be truthful with Happy, "I honestly can't answer that right now; a lot of stuff has happened to me in the past to shape who I am today, and there are some parts you're better off not knowing. But you trust me on this, I _will_ tell you one day; that day is just not today, so don't feel too bad." he ended defiantly while looking up at the clouds, envying their place in the universe. He unconsciously patted Happy on the head, who arched to his touch.

Happy nodded and smiled, content with his new friend's answer. He didn't know _what_ had happened to Natsu, but found himself worrying over the older boy for some reason; it just felt natural and innate. Happy languidly shifted his body closer to Natsu and leaned against his shoulder resting his eyelids a bit (he _had_ woken up at he 5:30 that morning after all; stupid clock), a bit annoyed when Natsu started to shape his hair into peculiar designs, but he didn't mind too much; it was bittersweet. The two just sat there, basking in the warmth of the sun now that they were somewhat shielded by the bastion of shadow created by the tree. Happy faintly heard a ringing sound and frowned, but he did not move, too comfortable on Natsu's soft yet firm shoulder to move. Natsu however, did not notice the sound, too busy trying to give Happy a Mohawk.

Without opening his eyes Happy softly spoke, "Hey... Natsu, the bell probably rang a minute ago.. we're gonna be late."

"...Shit."

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 **I was surprised like only one of you caught the Macbeth reference in that last chapter. I wonder if any of you can guess what I am doing with the weather (inspired by Frankenstein). Also quick question, should I have Layla Heartfilia be dead or alive? Please leave a review with your opinion, else I'm gonna make her alive. Finally there was question by a guest I think about the time frame in this story, and it is still the first Friday of the first week of school.**

 **UPDATE- I am currently in the process of editing chapter 1-3 because I realized that the style of the writing _really_ changed from chapter 4 and onward.**


	12. Cognizance

**Here is the next chapter, sorry it took a while, I'm still on vacation after all. Thank you for helpful reviews and tips! I understand that a lot of you feel a bit inundated with detail, so I promise to try hard to make the story less pedantic. No absolute promises however, as this really is just the way I have always written! Also, someone asked how I came up with the detailed fight scenes? Simple, just play Mortal Kombat.**

 **I own nothing.**

Cognizance

 _"Crap, crap, crap._ " Natsu thought as he hurried down the school's hallways. He was going to be late for class, he just knew it. Last time he was late to class had _not_ been a good experience for him, and he was not about to risk getting battered by a disgruntled teacher on his first day here. He had ran through the lobby so fast, the receptionist had not even seen him. Dashing up to the fourth floor, Natsu saw his assigned classroom up ahead, remembering its number from the syllabus. He sprinted harder, gliding across the floor like a speed-skater. His feet were cramping up, because he was _not_ wearing running shoes, but he ran through it anyway, used to pain from his years of training. If he could power through tendonitis for 4 years, then this was nothing. He skidded to a halt with an emphatic SCREEECH, and turned into the classroom. Controlling his breathing before entering, he meditated for a quick moment as he did not want it to look like he had been running to class. Calmed somewhat, he entered, quickly scanning for a seat and scurrying to it, so as to not draw too much attention to himself.

With a groan of disappointment, he realized that his seat was next to yet _another_ football player. Why did this school insist on seating the peasants next to the knights; it had certainly never worked throughout history before. With a resignation to his fate, he plopped down next to the boy, who had vibrant and spiky white hair, making him look sort of like a super-saiyan Natsu noted to himself. The boy was busily enjoying his eyes' attention on his phone screen, but it looked like a mouse in the hands of a cat; the student was easily the biggest that Natsu had glimpsed the whole day, dwarfing most of the other football players.

Leaning back in his chair he saw that the teen was devoting a flurry of finger movements to playing _Candy Crush_ of all games. Natsu had to try hard not to snort with laughter, but he let out a little grunt of joviality and the boy paused his game to turn to look at him. Initially expecting to see nothing but hatred and dislike in those eyes, he saw nothing but happiness instead, which surprised him. His expression was bemused and his eyes puzzled. With an act of violating the axiom that Natsu had assumed about everyone in this school, the large boy held out his hand, a sign of recognition and approval. Natsu hesitantly took it while the boy spoke up, "Hello, MAN, I have never seen you at this school before, are you perhaps, MAN, new?"

Natsu did not really know how to answer that question, as he was more perturbed by the strange ticks that the teen seemed to involuntarily go through when speaking, "Um, I don't mean to be rude, but real quick, what' the heck's up with your voice?"

"Ah, you must be talking about my Tourette's, I myself didn't know I had it until, MAN, yesterday."

Natsu did not really want to hear the story behind why this kid's particular case of Tourette's had him yelling "man", so he quickly introduced himself to deviate the conversation to something more light, "Well, anyway, yes to your first question. I _am_ new here, this is my first day actually; my name's Natsu by the way.

"Elfman" the football player answered in turn. He did not seem that bad to Natsu, in fact, observing Elfman's face, he saw no evil there, no wretched look of violence; there was simply nothing. All he really could make out was a boy who's size hid his real personality behind a veil of muscle. He seemed harmless, even more so than the pierced boy that he had shared a look with three periods previously.

"So Natsu, are you a man?"

"Of course I am, do I not look like one?" Natsu asked, feeling slightly violated.

"Well, MAN, I couldn't see your face under your manly hood, so I wasn't sure, MAN, what you were."

"MY voice, my voice," Natsu repeated exasperatedly, "my voice is obviously that of a boy's."

"Well, MAN, it definitely could have been that of a girl too, but don't worry, girls are just as manly as boys." _"Ugh"_ , Natsu thought. This was getting weirder by the minute.

"Wait?! Are you still implying I'm a girl?" Natsu asked hesitantly, his face forming a confused look.

"No, not, MAN, at all, I simply was telling you how to be a man."

 _"That doesn't even make any sense."_ Natsu thought, and for the rest of the period, him and Elfman went back and forth, Natsu debating that he was indeed _very_ manly, while Elfman assured him that it was now acceptable in society to be queer. Natsu didn't even know _where_ that had come from, but he continued to try and break the ancile of Elfman's mind. Even through the light work that the teacher had assigned, the twosome continued to incessantly quip back and forth with another while doing their assigned worksheet. It took the intervention of the other person sitting at their table to put an end to things. She had purple hair, and had introduced herself as Laki Olietta; she had also said that she would shove a wooden stick up both of their asses if they didn't _shut up_. Despite her horrific threat, Laki turned out to be nice enough, engaging in thoughtful discussion with Natsu and Elfman about the work they were doing, while trying to keep them from going back to their heated debate. Elfman had turned out to be surprisingly smart notwithstanding his appearance and he and Natsu were able to complete their work with a good amount of time still left in class. However, when Laki excused herself to go to the bathroom, the two idiots pounced on each other like cats, intent on finishing what they started.

The bell was going to ring in about 15 minutes, and while Natsu was arguing hotly in his own favor, he had enjoyed his brief verbiage with Elfman so far in that class, the bigger boy coming across as a bit eccentric, but a really innocent person at heart when one tried peeling away at the layers of obvious manliness that wrapped ever so tightly around him like bondage; it was like trying to pry a women from Eros, nearly impossible. Natsu was gaining in the battle, about to win by delivering the final blow on why he _was_ a man, when Laki came back in the classroom. The two had dropped their gazes from each other's faces and instead looked away, Elfman at Candy Crush and Natsu at his shoes.

When the bell actually _did_ ring, Laki had bid the two a goodbye and went on her journey to her next class, leaving Natsu and Elfman standing outside in the hall, hands in their pockets as both found it awkward to say anything. Natsu took the initiative and spoke up, something he didn't usually do, but Elfman was a good person, "So, what class do you have next?"

"College English, MAN, I signed up for the special course because I thought it would be manly of me to take it." the large boy said with a proud gleam in his eye as he puffed out his huge chest.

"REALLY? That's what I have too!" Natsu said excitedly, not exactly sure why, but he knew this meant that he would have someone to talk to in the class instead of wallowing away in his own self-pity.

Elfman smiled warmly, "Maybe having conjoined classes will allow us to continue the life-changing debate on whether you are gay or not."

Natsu really couldn't gauge if he was joking or not, but the ambience around the large boy so far had been anything but normal. But it wasn't bad, just _different._ The two walked gleefully to class, smiles on their faces as they controverted about the issues of sexuality, their conversation evolving into a more serious one. Natsu brought up a rather controversial topic, "Since we're talking about this anyway, did you hear about the legalization of gay marriage that happened all across Fiore last Monday?"

"Yes, as a matter of fact I did, MAN, I for one don't not really see the big deal about the whole thing."

Natsu realized that for all of Elfman's eccentricity, he could be serious when he wanted to be, and that this was one of those moments, "You really think that? Because that's how I feel about the whole thing too."

"Yes, I do. I don't get why many people are creating a riot over it. Actually, MAN, I'm confused as to why gay marriage was banned in the first place." Elfman answered with a thoughtful look in his eye. The two had just turned into their classroom, which was at the end of the hall, and had made themselves comfortable next to each other in two seats.

"Yeah I agree, I mean, what's the big _deal_? I just feel that people should care about more important things than who you want to marry. It probably should never have been banned in the first place. Marriage is just a fact of life, and you should be able to marry whoever you want. Hell, I should be able to marry a cat if I really wanted to, it's _my_ life after all! Instead they made this big deal out of trying to marry the one you love, which should always be simple." Natsu argued with an insightful voice, grinning a bit when he joked. Elfman smiled a bit at that too and remarked how manly marrying a cat would be. That didn't help Natsu gauge his mental state any better, but the large boy didn't care.

The duo analogously turned their heads to the teacher as the women began her lecture for the day, analyzing different parts about the book, _Atlas Shrugged_. The lecture ended 15 minutes early and Natsu turned to ask Elfman about what sorts of friends he had. The bigger boy looked a little apologetic as he told Natsu that he did not actually have many friends, the Tourette's usually scaring them away before he could explain. Natsu nodded understandingly, as he had gone through similar things before. Elfman said that since he was on the football team, the members _did_ talk to him, but that most of them were in tightknit cliques of their own already, and those were pretty hard to intrude upon without seeming gauche. Natsu wanted to cheer up the boy, who had gotten a little dejected with his explanation, "Hey, it can't be _all_ bad right, you must have some people really close to you, everybody does."

"Why yes, MAN, I actually do, I have two man sisters that are very precious to me, an the three of us get along very well" he reminisced with a gleam in his eye. Natsu decided to just ignore that little comment about "man sisters" and proceeded to ask him who they were. One was apparently called Mirajane, who was older than him, being a senior, and the other was called Lisanna, who was younger than him, being a sophomore. When he talked about and described them, there was such joy etched into his face that it made Natsu grin. It seemed to him that Elfman's best friends were basically his beloved sisters. But what the bigger boy said next perturbed him, "There _is_ also someone else who is sort of a friend to me." Elfman said softly, inexplicably blushing a bit. Natsu couldn't fathom why.

"Who is it, and why are your cheeks red, are you sick or something?"

"THEY are not red!" he exclaimed, before blushing _again,_ "She is just someone I met last year at, MAN, a football game. We didn't get along at first, but she, MAN, warmed up to me a little as the year went by."

"Ah," Natsu started, with a mischievous gleam in his eyes, "it's a _girl_ I see, now I know why your cheeks were flushing."

Elfman sputtered while blushing yet again, "Qu-be quiet, there's nothing like that going on between us. Her name is Evergreen, and she's the head cheerleader, she wouldn't ever be interested in that way with a guy like, MAN, me anyway. She's too manly for me." he said sadly, betraying his previous refusal of attraction to the girl with a hint of longing in his voice, as if that last comment was an actual compliment. Natsu had to admit, if this was how this guy talked to girls too, he could _maybe_ see why Elfman thought that the girl wasn't interested in him. However, not wanting to dampen the boy's spirits, Natsu patted him on his back and tried to switch the topic of the conversation away from Elfman's lack of friends, though secretly he was glad he had found someone that was in the same boat as him; a good person who was judged at an untimely moment, having it backlash across their lives and cause its ripples to effect the course of their journey. At least they each had a few people that they _really_ cared about.

"I say if that girl isn't interested in you, who needs her? Maybe you're secretly homosexual and it would never work out between you two anyway." Natsu countered, intent on bringing Elfman's focus to another agenda. Before the bigger boy could say how man it was to be gay, the bell rung, letting Natsu know he had been victorious in his mission to brighten the boy up. He checked his schedule with Elfman, and saw that, sadly, they did _not_ have the same last period.

Bidding the boy farewell, but not before exchanging numbers, Natsu made his way all the way up to the top floor, aiming to see school through with no incident to mar his first day there. His last class was World History, a class that was rumored to be nigh impossible to do well in. Natsu found that to be farcical nonsense though, as the class seemed pretty easy; all he had to do was take a _lot_ of notes, but that was something he was very good at. Not having friends consistently no matter what school he had gone to, Natsu had never really had the means to goof off in class or get distracted in any way at all. His only remaining options were to either sit there in listless boredom, or take notes. He chose the latter, and became extremely good at it, now being proficient at writing while not looking at _what_ he was writing and being able to talk with someone at the same time. Thus, the class was fairy simple for him: he looked at the board and then back at his paper to write, and then he rinsed, washed, and repeated until the class ended.

The final bell was like a siren singing to Natsu, pulling him closer to home. He had hurriedly packed his belongings into his back before dashing out of his classroom, not before adding a "have a nice day" to his teacher though, who had been very engaging and deserved to be ingratiated upon. He raced down the steps of the grand stairway, taking 4 at a time as he went, intent on reaching his locker. He got down to the floor where his locker was, and he proceeded to rush to his hallway. Swiveling on a dime, Natsu turned into the hall and ambled over to his locker. He rapidly punched in the combination and performed his soon to be daily exchange of items between his locker and his book-bag, as if he was at the counter of a barterer. He took what he needed and stood up, looking back the way he had came.

There was a blonde girl at her locker, but she was bent down low so he could barely make anything out about her appearance. Not wanting to delay his weekend in the slightest, Natsu was off; he thought he saw the turn her head at his racing past, but he really could not have cared less at that moment. He rushed down to the floor that the lobby was on and hastened to said lobby. As Natsu was about to step out the door, to experience glorious freedom once more he noticed through his peripheral vision that there were some students milling about near an announcement board in the lobby. Natsu carefully peered at it and gasped when he saw the word "partner"; he had almost forgotten to check it. _"Whew, glad I remembered, Wendy would've been so pissed"_ he thought thankfully while wiping a brow.

Carefully making his way over, Natsu realized that he was the only one left, everyone else already having left. He looked up the rows and columns of the list to find his name, realizing just how _big_ the school really was. He traced the huge list with his finger; it was like trying to find a grain of salt on the beach. Finally, he found his name, and he read an unfamiliar one across from his.

 _"Who the hell is she?!"_

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 **Anyone reading this story, you should check out a oneshot I recently wrote called Without Him, you'll enjoy it! Also be sure to be on lookout for a new story I am making!**


	13. Inquisitive

**Sorry for the delay, but vacationing made it difficult to write. Also if any of my followers (or anyone for that matter) leave a review to say what they like about the story so far and present any ideas, it would be greatly appreciated, reviews always make my day because it's tangible evidence that someone is reading my story. WARNING- THIS IS NOT AN UPDATE FOR CHAPTER 13, THIS IS AN UPDATE FOR THE PROLOGUE, SO KINDLY CLICK ON THE FIRST CHAPTER "13 YEARS PRIOR"**

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Inquisitive

 _"Who is Natsu Dragneel?"_ was the question that ran through Lucy's mind as she made her way out of the school. She had never heard that name before, and it very sounded different, almost exotic. Most of names she had ever encountered in her life were indigenous to Magnolia and the surrounding regions. _This_ name in particular seemed to have a more foreign origin. It also piqued her interest since Lucy was fairly shocked that she had never come across that name before. Being a former member of student council, she had been asked by Mirajane and Erza to run the annual student census as a personal favor to the both of them. While the reward had merely been to not tease her as much as they usually did, she was happy to do the job. It gave her a chance to reacquaint herself with the student body of their huge school.

The only snag was, she did not recall seeing this name when she had conducted the census, and the girl prided herself on her good memory. Really, she couldn't even tell if the name was a boy or a girl's. Lucy knew that "Natsu" meant summer in Japanese, indicating that her partner was from the far east, or at least was descended from there. But, as far as she knew, that name could be applied to either gender. Now that she was thinking about it, there was something strangely enticing about the possibility of having a boy as a partner. Having never had one before, she began to fantasize about what this person might be like and how she would get along with them.

While she did so, her subconscious was slowly edging towards a discreet but large door in her brain labeled "love", mindful of its human's distraction and using the dissension to try plant a seminal idea in her head. Before it could do so however, Lucy had noticed where her mind had been close to drifting off to, and she immediately tapped her head incessantly to get it out of her head, _"BAD LUCY! You already have a wonderful boyfriend named Loke."_ Honestly, she didn't know what went on in her tightly coiled brain sometimes, it was as if it was restless with her current life. She didn't really understand why that may have been, because she was _supposed_ to be happy with the way things were now. However, there was always a nagging, almost infectious part of her brain, and it was always near the back mind you, that ached for a release. A release from what, she didn't know, and chose instead to suppress that part of her cognizance. Though at times she felt that line of thinking gain an increasing influence on her thoughts, she could never fathom _why_ , it was as if her life was all but completed, missing one last piece of the complex puzzle, but for the life of her she had stopped searching a long time ago. Her discordant state engendered her to almost slam into a metal gate before she veered her body back, narrowly avoiding collision.

Lucy didn't realize that, while she was lost in thought, her feet had taken her right in front of the gate that led to the stadium. The path was ingrained into them due to constant use for the past two years, and it was almost flesh memory by now. _"Oh that's right, I have lacrosse practice."_ Lucy remembered, a little mortified she had forgotten in the first place. She shook off her embarrassment and pushed open the gate-CREEEEAK-, walking into the huge arena. It had raised walkways on all sides of the pitch, with two huge seating stands on either side. One represented the home team, and the other away, while there was a huge scoreboard off to the side.

Lucy headed to the girls bathroom to get changed, knowing that most of her friends would already be in there. Before she neared the area, she could smell the stench emanating from the boys bathroom right next to it. The girls weren't heavenly by any means, but they at least had some sense of hygiene; the boys were downright disgusting. Regretfully, Lucy swung open the door to a cacophony of greetings-

"Lucy, where were you?"

"I didn't see you after the bell rang today."

"Don't tell me you got detention."

"Did you see the partner list they posted?"

Trying to process all of the statements and questions directed to her at once was a handful for her mind, seeing as it had just finished an intense introspection session, but she answered her friends quickly as best she could. When they were all satisfied they went back to changing right in _front_ of each other, seemingly not succumbing to the ignominy of nudity. Some were draped along the sink and mirror while pulling their shirts either off or on, and others simply stood in place while unceremoniously stripping. It wasn't a _big_ bathroom by far, yet Lucy could never understand why they changed so very closely to one another; she was very prudish about these types of things. Nevertheless, most of the girls seemed to never have any shame whatsoever and some even _enjoyed_ it (Cana). This particular bathroom had dim lighting, which created a perpetually gloomy and dark ambience; really, one wouldn't even be able to see another person's face unless one was within five feet of another. Still, a few of the girls felt a bit mortified when the majority of them simply went in and disrobed with reckless abandon.

It was understandable, most of them had known each other for years. Lucy, Juvia, and Wendy however, were the only ones who didn't change out in the open, electing to do it in the stalls instead. Oftentimes Cana would get irritated at their attitudes, "FOR FUCK'S SAKE, NOTHING WILL HAPPEN IF YOU CHANGE IN FRONT OF US!" she would shout, while proceeding to take a chug from her _special_ flask.

Usually at these times, the brunette would try to drag one of the three from out of the stalls, if not all three conjointly, the only thing stopping her most of the time was a sympathetic Mirajane, "Come on Cana," she would admonish, "if they aren't comfortable, don't drag them out here." That would normally earn a grunt of dissatisfaction from Cana, who would remain moody for all of five minutes until she took _another_ swig from her flask. All the while this took place, Lisanna and Wendy would try their very best to keep the peace, but being the two youngest on the team, it was rather hard for them to cool the tempers of the older girls, and they invariably always ended up cowering behind an oblivious Erza, who was always munching on her pre-practice snack.

That day was no different; as soon as Lucy's ears had been inundated by questions, Cana had sidled up behind her and groped her breasts, in a lewd fashion too, "Luuucy, I missed you today, or more specifically these," she whined as she gave Lucy's boobs a little shake, "don't tell me you were off doing perverted things with Loke again." Cana's insinuation caused Lucy to sputter and shout with embarrassment.

"SH-SHUT UP CANA! I do no such things, in fact lunch was the only time I even saw Loke today." Lucy almost whispered that last part, as she realized just how _little_ she was seeing of him lately; it was like he led a double life or something. She was shaken out of her thoughts by a fairly unimpressed Cana, who was twisting her head back and forth.

"That's not what _I_ heard Lucy," she teasingly started as she began to pull on her uniform, "there are some rumors going around, and I for one think you'd _love_ to hear the-"

"Cana, quit the banter, you're not letting me enjoy my gelato in peace." a cross Erza stated, looking up with bright yet irritated eyes from her snack; she had already gotten ready beforehand, much before anyone else as usual, "the stores here do not stock this item that much, as it is very hard to transport goods from Arbaless quickly, so I would find it _very_ kind if you girls would actually let me _finish_ it today. We don't want a repeat of last time now do we?" the redhead questioned with a menacing tone, causing all the girls except for Mira, who simply hummed a tune to herself, to tremble in fear at that _particular_ memory. This reminder turned out to be all that was needed for a now afraid Cana to stop teasing Lucy, causing the blonde to mouth a silent "thank you" to Erza, who did not even see it as she impetuously went back to eating.

Lucy made her way into her usual stall (the cleanest) and began to change into her school uniform. While it was adorned by the school colors, orange and light pink, the "uniform" was more or less just a simple practice jersey, displaying the players' numbers on the back and the school emblem on the front. Shoving her school clothes into a duffel bag, Lucy proceeded to slip into her long socks and lace up her cleats, while simultaneously grabbing her stick from her backpack; she had been doing this for _many_ years.

When she came out, she realized that the other girls had already made their way down to the field, stretching for their warm up. The only one still in the bathroom was Wendy, who was arduously trying to fit her foot into one of her cleats while propping it up onto the sink, a small pout on her irritated countenance as she pulled and hacked at her feet. Lucy observed the girl, _"She is soooo cute!"_ the blonde gushed within her mind as she crept closer to Wendy. If the younger girl had looked up for just a second, she would have seen Lucy's enlarging reflection in the mirror, but she was too concentrated on her shoes. Needless to say, she was caught off her guard when Lucy sprung right behind her and pulled her cheeks while speaking in a babyish manner, " _Hello_ Wendy, how's our little prodigy doing today?"

Wendy jumped and shrieked at the sudden intrusion upon her careful and intensive shoe-session, "GAHHH, LUCY!" she shouted while clutching her beating heart, "You scared the heck out of me, and I thought I said last time that doing that to my cheeks _hurts._ " she complained while rubbing said cheeks.

Lucy simply grinned, "Aaw, but they're so cuuute Wendy, I just couldn't help myself!" she bubbled, causing the smaller girl to blush. "Anyway Wendy, do you need help with that pesky cleat, because if we don't get down there in the next minute or so, coach will make us run extra laps."

Wendy shuddered, reliving her past experiences of getting punished by their coach. Their warm up itself was usually 5 laps around the track, but there were certain times when their caustic coach was especially livid, that they were forced to run 20. Wendy had been on the receiving end of those temperamental decisions more than once, and she _hated_ it. "Yeah, you're right Lucy, I hate it when coach is mad at us."

Lucy laughed as she moved to Wendy's feet to help the girl inch her foot into the shoe, palming Wendy's sole, "I know what you mean, but she isn't all bad. Remember that one time she bought the whole team dinner after we won that region game?

"I guess," Wendy conceded while wincing; Lucy had just rather painfully shoved her foot, trying still to fit it in, "but I just wish she would show that same kindness on a more regular basis."

"Hmm, I know what you me-" Lucy began before she whooped in triumph-WHEW-as Wendy's foot was finally tucked into the tight shoe, "You know, you're a growing girl, you should think about getting a new pair of cleats soon, these are almost ripping at the seams."

Wendy's face became mournful and flushed at the same time as she shyly ducked her head, "I wish I could, but money's really tight right now." At this Lucy's face immediately became apologetic, as she had momentarily forgotten that Wendy came from a quietly low-class background, living alone in an apartment instead of a house, the latter being what most kids who attended Magnolia High did.

"I'm sorry Wendy, I forgo-"

"No no no, it's okay, really. It just means I have to wait a little longer before buying myself a new pair of cleats is all." Wendy reassured her with a smile as she bent down to pick up her lacrosse bag, "Come on Lucy, race you to the field!"

"Hey wait up, no fair!" Lucy grumbled, but she was smiling anyway. The twosome raced out the bathroom door and headed for the stairs that would take them down to the field, "Oh yeah that reminds me, I was going to ask all of you guys this at once, but Cana pretty much ruined my chance so this'll have to do for now."

"What is it Lucy?"

"I saw who my partner was right after school... ," Wendy nodded for her to continue, "it was someone named _Natsu Dragneel_ , but I have no idea who that is, do you?" as Lucy said the name she couldn't help but notice a little gleam in Wendy's eyes, while the younger girl's mouth also parted a little bit in a mixture of astonishment and ebullition.

"Of course I know who that is, he's my brother."

* * *

 **Finally, this chapter starts some of Lucy's pov and may be a few chapters yet until we revisit Natsu's head. Again, please leave a review on whether Layla should be alive or not, I have scenarios prepared for both situations.**


	14. Chapter 14

**So, sorry about this! It has been a month since I updated, this is not a chapter, just wanted to say this story is on hiatus atm. School is hectic when you take 6 AP classes, and I really wont have much time at all with extracurriculars piled on top of school. I will finish this story sometime in the future, just not soon, if any of you have any interest this in the future, then search it up, just not now.**


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